GSLV R/B

GSLV R/B is a spent rocket body associated with India, launched on 2024-02-17 from SRI on the INSAT-2DS launch. It orbits in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) at altitudes between 172 km and 20,528 km with an inclination of 19.3°. It travels at approximately 17,577 km/h (4.88 km/s), completing one full orbit every 5 hours 59 minutes — that’s roughly 4.01 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.6087 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. Spent rocket bodies like GSLV 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.

GSLV R/B orbits at an average altitude of 10,350 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 GSLV R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 0 active payloads and 5 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 19.3°, GSLV R/B passes over latitudes between 19.3°N and 19.3°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.