QAEM 100 R/B

QAEM 100 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Iran, launched on 2024-09-14 from SMTS on the Chamran-1 launch. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 474 km and 568 km with an inclination of 64.1°. It travels at approximately 27,378 km/h (7.60 km/s), completing one full orbit every 95 minutes — that’s roughly 15.15 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Spent rocket bodies like QAEM 100 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.

QAEM 100 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 521 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 QAEM 100 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 7,288 active payloads and 272 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1231, STARLINK-1276. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 41.7% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 64.1°, QAEM 100 R/B 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. Iran operates approximately 5 active satellites in total, of which 2 share a similar altitude band with QAEM 100 R/B.