SL-14 R/B

SL-14 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 1986-02-11 from PKMTR on the Musson No. 16 launch. With over 40 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,479 km and 1,521 km with an inclination of 73.6°. It travels at approximately 25,619 km/h (7.12 km/s), completing one full orbit every 116 minutes — that’s roughly 12.42 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. Spent rocket bodies like SL-14 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.

SL-14 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 1,500 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of SL-14 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 238 active payloads and 251 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 73.6°, SL-14 R/B passes over latitudes between 73.6°N and 73.6°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,287 active satellites in total, of which 229 share a similar altitude band with SL-14 R/B.