ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B is a spent rocket body associated with United States, launched on 2019-10-17 from RLLC on the Palisade launch. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 478 km and 1,100 km with an inclination of 87.9°. It travels at approximately 26,861 km/h (7.46 km/s), completing one full orbit every 101 minutes — that’s roughly 14.31 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~25–100 years. Spent rocket bodies like ELECTRON KICK STAGE 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.

ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B orbits at an average altitude of 789 km in the mid-LEO band, where atmospheric drag is minimal but radiation exposure remains manageable. Objects at this altitude persist for decades to centuries, making debris mitigation critical. This regime is popular for remote sensing constellations and scientific instruments that need stable, long-duration orbits. Within ±50 km of ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 421 active payloads and 2,251 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include NOAA 20, ONEWEB-0179, ONEWEB-0455. With an inclination of 87.9°, ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B passes over latitudes between 87.9°N and 87.9°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. United States operates approximately 12,413 active satellites in total, of which 155 share a similar altitude band with ELECTRON KICK STAGE R/B.