CZ-5 R/B

CZ-5 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2025-12-20 from Wenchang, China on the TJS 23 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 323 km and 41,286 km with an inclination of 15.8°. It travels at approximately 13,787 km/h (3.83 km/s), completing one full orbit every 12 hours 23 minutes — that’s roughly 1.94 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7537 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like CZ-5 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-5 R/B follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 323 km (perigee) and 41,286 km (apogee). It spends most of its 12 hours 23 minutes orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. Within ±50 km of CZ-5 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 11 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 15.8°, CZ-5 R/B passes over latitudes between 15.8°N and 15.8°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total.