CZ-3A R/B

CZ-3A R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2012-01-13 from Xichang, China on the fengyun erhao 07 xing launch. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 331 km and 34,988 km with an inclination of 24.7°. It travels at approximately 14,662 km/h (4.07 km/s), completing one full orbit every 10 hours 18 minutes — that’s roughly 2.33 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7211 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 17,660 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 8 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.