ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1963-11-27 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, United States on the AC-2 launch. After more than 63 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 456 km and 1,243 km with an inclination of 30.4°. It travels at approximately 26,748 km/h (7.43 km/s), completing one full orbit every 102 minutes — that’s roughly 14.13 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. Spent rocket bodies like ATLAS CENTAUR 2 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.

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 850 km in the upper LEO band, where atmospheric drag is negligible and objects can persist for centuries to millennia. This altitude is used by broadband constellations like OneWeb and by scientific missions requiring stable orbits far from the densest debris bands. Within ±50 km of ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 256 active payloads and 2,342 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include NOAA 20, ONEWEB-0455. With an inclination of 30.4°, ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B passes over latitudes between 30.4°N and 30.4°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. United States operates approximately 13,279 active satellites in total, of which 62 share a similar altitude band with ATLAS CENTAUR 2 R/B.