ARIANE 42P DEB

ARIANE 42P DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 1992-08-10 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on the Topex-Poseidon launch. With over 34 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,082 km and 1,657 km with an inclination of 66.0°. It travels at approximately 25,834 km/h (7.18 km/s), completing one full orbit every 113 minutes — that’s roughly 12.73 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, ARIANE 42P 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.

ARIANE 42P DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,370 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of ARIANE 42P DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 164 active payloads and 154 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 66.0°, ARIANE 42P DEB passes over latitudes between 66.0°N and 66.0°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. France operates approximately 115 active satellites in total.