THORAD AGENA D DEB

THORAD AGENA D DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1969-09-30 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, United States on the P-11 No. 4407 launch. After more than 57 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 572 km and 590 km with an inclination of 70.1°. It travels at approximately 27,259 km/h (7.57 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 14.95 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, THORAD AGENA D 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.

THORAD AGENA D DEB orbits at an average altitude of 581 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 THORAD AGENA D DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 1,767 active payloads and 609 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 9.4% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 70.1°, THORAD AGENA D DEB passes over latitudes between 70.1°N and 70.1°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. United States operates approximately 13,199 active satellites in total, of which 1,158 share a similar altitude band with THORAD AGENA D DEB.