ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2024-03-12 from RLLC on the Strix-3 launch. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 468 km and 477 km with an inclination of 97.6°. It travels at approximately 27,475 km/h (7.63 km/s), completing one full orbit every 94 minutes — that’s roughly 15.31 orbits per day. Its near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit means it passes over any given point on Earth at approximately the same local solar time, ideal for consistent Earth observation lighting conditions. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~1–3 years. Spent rocket bodies like ELECTRON KICK STAGE 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.

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B orbits at an average altitude of 473 km in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), a specialised subset of LEO where the orbital plane precesses to maintain a constant angle relative to the Sun. This provides consistent lighting conditions on every pass — essential for Earth observation, weather monitoring and environmental science. Within ±50 km of ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 8,211 active payloads and 200 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1017, STARLINK-1039, STARLINK-1047. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 46.9% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 97.6°, ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B passes over latitudes between 97.6°N and 97.6°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total, of which 7,636 share a similar altitude band with ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B.