ATLAS CENTAUR R/B

ATLAS CENTAUR R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2018-04-14 from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the CBAS/EAGLE launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 31,895 km and 35,453 km with an inclination of 6.7°. It travels at approximately 11,358 km/h (3.15 km/s), completing one full orbit every 22 hours 10 minutes — that’s roughly 1.08 orbits per day. Spent rocket bodies like ATLAS 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 CENTAUR R/B orbits at an average altitude of 33,674 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 CENTAUR 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 6.7°, ATLAS CENTAUR R/B passes over latitudes between 6.7°N and 6.7°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.