BREEZE M R/B

BREEZE M R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 2010-04-24 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the SES-1 launch. After 16 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 28,267 km and 33,603 km with an inclination of 8.1°. It travels at approximately 11,767 km/h (3.27 km/s), completing one full orbit every 19 hours 56 minutes — that’s roughly 1.20 orbits per day. Spent rocket bodies like BREEZE M 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.

BREEZE M R/B orbits at an average altitude of 30,935 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 BREEZE M R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 3 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 8.1°, BREEZE M R/B passes over latitudes between 8.1°N and 8.1°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,286 active satellites in total.