SL-14 DEB

SL-14 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1986-01-17 from PKMTR on the Tselina-D launch. With over 40 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 531 km and 655 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 27,236 km/h (7.57 km/s), completing one full orbit every 97 minutes — that’s roughly 14.92 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. As orbital debris, SL-14 DEB 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.

SL-14 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 593 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 SL-14 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 2,069 active payloads and 620 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0050, STARLINK-3005, STARLINK-3090. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 11.6% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 82.5°, SL-14 DEB passes over latitudes between 82.5°N and 82.5°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,301 active satellites in total, of which 32 share a similar altitude band with SL-14 DEB.