CZ-12 R/B

CZ-12 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2024-11-30 from Wenchang, China on the WHJSW 05 launch. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 942 km and 1,031 km with an inclination of 50.0°. It travels at approximately 26,498 km/h (7.36 km/s), completing one full orbit every 105 minutes — that’s roughly 13.74 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. Spent rocket bodies like CZ-12 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-12 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 987 km in the upper LEO band, where atmospheric drag is negligible and objects can persist for centuries to millennia. This altitude is used by broadband constellations like OneWeb and by scientific missions requiring stable orbits far from the densest debris bands. Within ±50 km of CZ-12 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 295 active payloads and 922 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 50.0°, CZ-12 R/B passes over latitudes between 50.0°N and 50.0°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. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total, of which 42 share a similar altitude band with CZ-12 R/B.