BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 2019-10-09 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on the MEV-1/Eutelsat-5WB launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 289 km and 18,688 km with an inclination of 50.3°. It travels at approximately 18,048 km/h (5.01 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 31 minutes — that’s roughly 4.34 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5801 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) 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.

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) orbits at an average altitude of 9,489 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 BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 9 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 50.3°, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) passes over latitudes between 50.3°N and 50.3°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,514 active satellites in total.