TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1979-11-21 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the DSCS II D-13 launch. With over 47 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) at altitudes between 35,945 km and 38,524 km with an inclination of 10.2°. It travels at approximately 10,884 km/h (3.02 km/s), completing one full orbit every 25.2 hours — that’s roughly 0.95 orbits per day. At geostationary altitude, there is no meaningful atmospheric drag — this object will remain in orbit indefinitely unless actively deorbited. Spent rocket bodies like TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE 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.

TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B occupies geostationary orbit at approximately 35,786 km above the equator, where its orbital period matches the Earth’s 24-hour rotation. From the ground, it appears to hover over a fixed point — ideal for broadcast television, weather monitoring and wideband communications. With an inclination of 10.2°, it traces a small figure-of-eight pattern relative to the equator rather than remaining perfectly stationary, which can indicate aging stationkeeping fuel or a deliberate inclined-orbit strategy. Within ±50 km of TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 4 active payloads and 3 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total, of which 2 share a similar altitude band with TITAN 3C TRANSTAGE R/B.