CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B

CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1998-02-10 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the GFO launch. With over 28 years in orbit, it has far exceeded many satellites’ design lifetimes. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 773 km and 860 km with an inclination of 108.0°. It travels at approximately 26,809 km/h (7.45 km/s), completing one full orbit every 101 minutes — that’s roughly 14.22 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~100–500 years. Spent rocket bodies like CELESTIS 02/TAURUS 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.

CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B orbits at an average altitude of 817 km in the upper LEO band, where atmospheric drag is negligible and objects can persist for centuries to millennia. This altitude is used by broadband constellations like OneWeb and by scientific missions requiring stable orbits far from the densest debris bands. Within ±50 km of CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 401 active payloads and 2,309 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include NOAA 20, ONEWEB-0179, ONEWEB-0455. With an inclination of 108.0°, CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B passes over latitudes between 108.0°N and 108.0°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. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total, of which 135 share a similar altitude band with CELESTIS 02/TAURUS R/B.