FALCON 9 R/B

FALCON 9 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2025-01-15 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the BG-1/Hakuto-R M2 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 145,686 km and 398,407 km with an inclination of 12.9°. It travels at approximately 4,307 km/h (1.20 km/s), completing one full orbit every 406.1 hours — that’s roughly 0.06 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.4539 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At geostationary altitude, there is no meaningful atmospheric drag — this object will remain in orbit indefinitely unless actively deorbited. Spent rocket bodies like FALCON 9 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.

FALCON 9 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 272,047 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. With an inclination of 12.9°, FALCON 9 R/B passes over latitudes between 12.9°N and 12.9°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,554 active satellites in total.