ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 2014-09-17 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the CLIO launch. After 12 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 8,288 km and 35,105 km with an inclination of 20.0°. It travels at approximately 13,567 km/h (3.77 km/s), completing one full orbit every 13 hours — that’s roughly 1.85 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4777 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ATLAS 5 CENTAUR 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.

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB orbits at an average altitude of 21,697 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 ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 13 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 20.0°, ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB passes over latitudes between 20.0°N and 20.0°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,358 active satellites in total.