ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to 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 595 km and 1,373 km with an inclination of 29.9°. It travels at approximately 26,502 km/h (7.36 km/s), completing one full orbit every 105 minutes — that’s roughly 13.74 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. As orbital debris, ATLAS CENTAUR 2 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.

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 984 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 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 362 active payloads and 1,147 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 29.9°, ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB passes over latitudes between 29.9°N and 29.9°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 13,199 active satellites in total, of which 126 share a similar altitude band with ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB.