ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B

ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2012-02-24 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the MUOS 1 launch. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 3,249 km and 35,219 km with an inclination of 18.9°. It travels at approximately 14,204 km/h (3.95 km/s), completing one full orbit every 11 hours 20 minutes — that’s roughly 2.12 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6243 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like ATLAS 5 CENTAUR 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 5 CENTAUR R/B orbits at an average altitude of 19,234 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 5 CENTAUR R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 1 active payload and 7 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 18.9°, ATLAS 5 CENTAUR R/B passes over latitudes between 18.9°N and 18.9°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total.