ARIANE 42P+3 DEB

ARIANE 42P+3 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to France, launched on 1996-04-20 from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou on the MSAT-1 launch. With over 30 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 370 km and 22,848 km with an inclination of 6.3°. It travels at approximately 16,950 km/h (4.71 km/s), completing one full orbit every 6 hours 40 minutes — that’s roughly 3.60 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6251 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, ARIANE 42P+3 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.

ARIANE 42P+3 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 11,609 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 42P+3 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 7 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 6.3°, ARIANE 42P+3 DEB passes over latitudes between 6.3°N and 6.3°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. France operates approximately 115 active satellites in total.