CZ-3B R/B

CZ-3B R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2023-12-26 from Xichang, China on the Beidou launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 345 km and 16,879 km with an inclination of 55.0°. It travels at approximately 18,568 km/h (5.16 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 4 minutes — that’s roughly 4.73 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.5518 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like CZ-3B 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.

CZ-3B R/B orbits at an average altitude of 8,612 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 CZ-3B R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 7 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 55.0°, CZ-3B R/B passes over latitudes between 55.0°N and 55.0°S, covering most populated land masses in both hemispheres. This mid-inclination band balances global coverage with efficient launch energy requirements. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total.