SL-14 R/B

SL-14 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 1986-09-30 from PKMTR on the Tselina-D 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 600 km and 624 km with an inclination of 82.5°. It travels at approximately 27,199 km/h (7.56 km/s), completing one full orbit every 97 minutes — that’s roughly 14.85 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~10–25 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 612 km in the mid-LEO band, where atmospheric drag is minimal but radiation exposure remains manageable. Objects at this altitude persist for decades to centuries, making debris mitigation critical. This regime is popular for remote sensing constellations and scientific instruments that need stable, long-duration orbits. Within ±50 km of SL-14 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1,597 active payloads and 724 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0050, STARLINK-3005, STARLINK-3090. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 9.1% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 82.5°, SL-14 R/B passes over latitudes between 82.5°N and 82.5°S, providing near-global coverage including the polar regions. Polar and near-polar orbits are used for reconnaissance, weather monitoring and Earth-observation missions that need to image every part of the planet. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,287 active satellites in total, of which 23 share a similar altitude band with SL-14 R/B.