BREEZE-M R/B

BREEZE-M R/B is a spent rocket body associated with Russia (CIS), launched on 2015-02-01 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on the Inmarsat 5F2 launch. After 11 years in orbit, it continues to be tracked by global surveillance networks. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 3,236 km and 62,761 km with an inclination of 27.1°. It travels at approximately 11,455 km/h (3.18 km/s), completing one full orbit every 21 hours 36 minutes — that’s roughly 1.11 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.7560 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. 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 follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 3,236 km (perigee) and 62,761 km (apogee). It spends most of its 21 hours 36 minutes orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. With an inclination of 27.1°, BREEZE-M R/B passes over latitudes between 27.1°N and 27.1°S, covering the tropical and temperate zones where most of the world’s population resides. Low-to-mid inclination orbits are efficient to reach from equatorial and mid-latitude launch sites. Russia (CIS) operates approximately 1,286 active satellites in total.