CZ-3A R/B

CZ-3A R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2007-02-02 from Xichang, China on the di si ke beidou daohang launch. After 19 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 282 km and 18,464 km with an inclination of 24.7°. It travels at approximately 18,114 km/h (5.03 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 28 minutes — that’s roughly 4.39 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5774 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like CZ-3A 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.

CZ-3A R/B orbits at an average altitude of 9,373 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 CZ-3A R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 9 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. This is a relatively sparse altitude band, containing less than 1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 24.7°, CZ-3A R/B passes over latitudes between 24.7°N and 24.7°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. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total.