BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 2023-03-12 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the Olimp-K No. 13L launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 198 km and 17,153 km with an inclination of 48.7°. It travels at approximately 18,529 km/h (5.15 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 6 minutes — that’s roughly 4.70 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5634 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. As orbital debris, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) 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.

BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) orbits at an average altitude of 8,676 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 BREEZE-M DEB (TANK)’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 13 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 48.7°, BREEZE-M DEB (TANK) passes over latitudes between 48.7°N and 48.7°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,285 active satellites in total.