TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1970-11-06 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the DSP 1 launch. After more than 56 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 25,870 km and 36,090 km with an inclination of 15.3°. It travels at approximately 11,760 km/h (3.27 km/s), completing one full orbit every 19 hours 58 minutes — that’s roughly 1.20 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1368 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B orbits at an average altitude of 30,980 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. With an inclination of 15.3°, TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B passes over latitudes between 15.3°N and 15.3°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 13,206 active satellites in total.