PSLV R/B

PSLV R/B is a spent rocket body associated with India, launched on 2020-12-17 from SRI on the GSAT-12R launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 172 km and 15,912 km with an inclination of 17.8°. It travels at approximately 18,932 km/h (5.26 km/s), completing one full orbit every 4 hours 47 minutes — that’s roughly 5.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5460 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like PSLV 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.

PSLV R/B orbits at an average altitude of 8,042 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 PSLV R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 31 active payloads and 4 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 17.8°, PSLV R/B passes over latitudes between 17.8°N and 17.8°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. India operates approximately 108 active satellites in total.