GSLV R/B

GSLV R/B is a spent rocket body associated with India, launched on 2023-05-29 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India on the IRNSS-1J launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 203 km and 23,943 km with an inclination of 19.3°. It travels at approximately 16,736 km/h (4.65 km/s), completing one full orbit every 6 hours 56 minutes — that’s roughly 3.46 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6436 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like GSLV 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.

GSLV R/B orbits at an average altitude of 12,073 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 GSLV R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 4 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 19.3°, GSLV R/B passes over latitudes between 19.3°N and 19.3°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. India operates approximately 101 active satellites in total.