FALCON HEAVY R/B

FALCON HEAVY R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2026-04-29 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the Viasat 3F3 launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 22,944 km and 33,151 km with an inclination of 2.6°. It travels at approximately 12,251 km/h (3.40 km/s), completing one full orbit every 17 hours 39 minutes — that’s roughly 1.36 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1483 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like FALCON HEAVY 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.

FALCON HEAVY R/B orbits at an average altitude of 28,048 km in Medium Earth Orbit, the region between LEO and GEO (2,000–35,786 km). MEO’s higher altitude gives each satellite a much larger ground footprint than LEO, meaning fewer spacecraft are needed for global coverage — but signal latency is higher and radiation from the Van Allen belts is a significant design constraint. With an inclination of 2.6°, FALCON HEAVY R/B passes over latitudes between 2.6°N and 2.6°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total.