IUS DEB

IUS DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1999-07-23 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the OV-102 IUS deploy launch. With over 27 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 1,267 km and 8,626 km with an inclination of 27.8°. It travels at approximately 21,365 km/h (5.93 km/s), completing one full orbit every 3 hours 20 minutes — that’s roughly 7.20 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.3251 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, IUS DEB poses a potential collision risk to operational satellites in nearby orbits and is continuously monitored by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and other tracking systems.

IUS DEB orbits at an average altitude of 4,947 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. Within ±50 km of IUS DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 6 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 27.8°, IUS DEB passes over latitudes between 27.8°N and 27.8°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. United States operates approximately 13,199 active satellites in total.