ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2026-03-20 from RLLC on the StriX-6 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 323 km and 485 km with an inclination of 50.3°. It travels at approximately 27,613 km/h (7.67 km/s), completing one full orbit every 93 minutes — that’s roughly 15.55 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~1–3 years. Spent rocket bodies like ELECTRON KICK STAGE 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.

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B orbits at an average altitude of 404 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 ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1,319 active payloads and 101 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1020. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 7.5% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 50.3°, ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B passes over latitudes between 50.3°N and 50.3°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 12,511 active satellites in total, of which 1,159 share a similar altitude band with ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B.