ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA)

ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 2020-02-18 from Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana on the JCSAT-17/GEO-Kompsat 2B launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 289 km and 21,945 km with an inclination of 5.6°. It travels at approximately 17,187 km/h (4.77 km/s), completing one full orbit every 6 hours 24 minutes — that’s roughly 3.75 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6192 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) 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 5 DEB (SYLDA) orbits at an average altitude of 11,117 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 ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA)’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 1 tracked debris or rocket body fragment. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 5.6°, ARIANE 5 DEB (SYLDA) passes over latitudes between 5.6°N and 5.6°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. France operates approximately 125 active satellites in total.