ELEKTRON 1 DEB

ELEKTRON 1 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to Russia (CIS), launched on 1964-01-30 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on the 2D No. 1 launch. After more than 62 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 373 km and 2,522 km with an inclination of 60.7°. It travels at approximately 25,705 km/h (7.14 km/s), completing one full orbit every 115 minutes — that’s roughly 12.54 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1374 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, ELEKTRON 1 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.

ELEKTRON 1 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,448 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. Within ±50 km of ELEKTRON 1 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 572 active payloads and 335 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 60.7°, ELEKTRON 1 DEB passes over latitudes between 60.7°N and 60.7°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,535 active satellites in total, of which 516 share a similar altitude band with ELEKTRON 1 DEB.