ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to United States, launched on 1963-11-27 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the AC-2 launch. After more than 63 years in orbit, it is one of the longest-surviving objects in the space catalogue. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 946 km and 1,934 km with an inclination of 31.0°. It travels at approximately 25,717 km/h (7.14 km/s), completing one full orbit every 115 minutes — that’s roughly 12.56 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB poses a potential collision risk to operational satellites in nearby orbits and is continuously monitored by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and other tracking systems.

ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,440 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 ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 377 active payloads and 191 tracked debris or rocket body fragments. With an inclination of 31.0°, ATLAS CENTAUR 2 DEB passes over latitudes between 31.0°N and 31.0°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. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total.