PSLV R/B

PSLV R/B is a spent rocket body associated with India, launched on 2019-12-11 from SRI on the PSLV Rideshare 16 launch. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 399 km and 417 km with an inclination of 37.0°. It travels at approximately 27,605 km/h (7.67 km/s), completing one full orbit every 93 minutes — that’s roughly 15.53 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~1–3 years. Spent rocket bodies like PSLV 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.

PSLV R/B orbits at an average altitude of 408 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 PSLV R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1,091 active payloads and 107 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1008, STARLINK-1012, STARLINK-1020. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 6.2% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 37.0°, PSLV R/B passes over latitudes between 37.0°N and 37.0°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. India operates approximately 108 active satellites in total, of which 2 share a similar altitude band with PSLV R/B.