PEGASUS R/B

PEGASUS R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 1998-12-06 from WRAS on the SWAS 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 550 km and 562 km with an inclination of 69.9°. It travels at approximately 27,309 km/h (7.59 km/s), completing one full orbit every 96 minutes — that’s roughly 15.04 orbits per day. Its near-circular orbit (eccentricity close to zero) means it maintains a very consistent altitude throughout each revolution. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Spent rocket bodies like PEGASUS 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.

PEGASUS R/B orbits at an average altitude of 556 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of PEGASUS R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 3,199 active payloads and 393 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1184, STARLINK-1276, ONEWEB-0050. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 18.3% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 69.9°, PEGASUS R/B passes over latitudes between 69.9°N and 69.9°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, of which 2,620 share a similar altitude band with PEGASUS R/B.