SL-14 R/B

SL-14 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 1977-06-24 from PKMTR on the EPN No. 03.0380 launch. With over 49 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 563 km and 619 km with an inclination of 75.8°. It travels at approximately 27,240 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. Spent rocket bodies like SL-14 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.

SL-14 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 591 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 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 2,129 active payloads and 609 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 12.2% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 75.8°, SL-14 R/B passes over latitudes between 75.8°N and 75.8°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 1,286 active satellites in total, of which 31 share a similar altitude band with SL-14 R/B.