CZ-4C DEB

CZ-4C DEB is a tracked piece of space debris attributed to China, launched on 2012-05-29 from Taiyuan, China on the yaogan weixing shiwuhao launch. After 14 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 1,108 km and 1,317 km with an inclination of 100.2°. It travels at approximately 26,100 km/h (7.25 km/s), completing one full orbit every 110 minutes — that’s roughly 13.13 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is thousands of years. As orbital debris, CZ-4C DEB poses a potential collision risk to operational satellites in nearby orbits and is continuously monitored by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network and other tracking systems.

CZ-4C DEB orbits at an average altitude of 1,213 km in the uppermost reaches of Low Earth Orbit. At this altitude, orbital decay is effectively zero without active deorbiting, and coverage footprints are significantly larger than lower LEO, though at the cost of higher latency. Within ±50 km of CZ-4C DEB’s average altitude, there are currently 732 active payloads and 230 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include ONEWEB-0012, ONEWEB-0010, ONEWEB-0008. With an inclination of 100.2°, CZ-4C DEB passes over latitudes between 100.2°N and 100.2°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. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total, of which 67 share a similar altitude band with CZ-4C DEB.