IRIDIUM 33 DEB

IRIDIUM 33 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1997-09-14 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the Iridium SV029 launch. With over 29 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 567 km and 607 km with an inclination of 86.3°. It travels at approximately 27,248 km/h (7.57 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.12 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, IRIDIUM 33 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.

IRIDIUM 33 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 587 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of IRIDIUM 33 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 3,056 active payloads and 594 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0050, STARLINK-3005, STARLINK-3090. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 17.5% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 86.3°, IRIDIUM 33 DEB passes over latitudes between 86.3°N and 86.3°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. United States operates approximately 12,354 active satellites in total, of which 2,511 share a similar altitude band with IRIDIUM 33 DEB.