DELTA 2 R/B

DELTA 2 R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2008-06-20 from Vandenberg SFB, California on the Jason-2 launch. After 18 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 2,151 km and 4,370 km with an inclination of 65.2°. It travels at approximately 23,159 km/h (6.43 km/s), completing one full orbit every 2 hours 37 minutes — that’s roughly 9.17 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.1152 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like DELTA 2 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.

DELTA 2 R/B orbits at an average altitude of 3,261 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 DELTA 2 R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 2 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 65.2°, DELTA 2 R/B passes over latitudes between 65.2°N and 65.2°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.