SL-6 R/B(2)

SL-6 R/B(2) is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 1992-10-14 from PKMTR on the Molniya-3 No. 50 launch. With over 34 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,018 km and 38,348 km with an inclination of 64.1°. It travels at approximately 13,948 km/h (3.87 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 58 minutes — that’s roughly 2.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6841 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like SL-6 R/B(2) are among the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris and are priority targets for collision avoidance manoeuvres and future active debris removal efforts.

SL-6 R/B(2) orbits at an average altitude of 20,183 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 SL-6 R/B(2)’s average altitude, there are currently 106 active payloads and 13 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include GPS BIIR-5 (PRN 22), GPS BIIR-8 (PRN 16), GPS BIIR-11 (PRN 19). With an inclination of 64.1°, SL-6 R/B(2) passes over latitudes between 64.1°N and 64.1°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 58 share a similar altitude band with SL-6 R/B(2).