ATLAS 2A R/B

ATLAS 2A R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1998-01-29 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the QUASAR 12? launch. With over 28 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,040 km and 37,237 km with an inclination of 62.1°. It travels at approximately 14,093 km/h (3.91 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 36 minutes — that’s roughly 2.07 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6766 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like ATLAS 2A 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.

ATLAS 2A R/B orbits at an average altitude of 19,639 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. Within ±50 km of ATLAS 2A R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads 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 62.1°, ATLAS 2A R/B passes over latitudes between 62.1°N and 62.1°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total.