ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 2018-10-17 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the AEHF 4 launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 9,804 km and 36,605 km with an inclination of 12.9°. It travels at approximately 13,216 km/h (3.67 km/s), completing one full orbit every 14 hours 4 minutes — that’s roughly 1.71 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4531 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 23,205 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 30 active payloads and 3 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include GALILEO-PFM, GALILEO-FM2, GALILEO-FM3. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 12.9°, ATLAS 5 CENTAUR DEB passes over latitudes between 12.9°N and 12.9°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.