YZ-1S R/B

YZ-1S R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2024-03-13 from Xichang, China on the DRO-A/DRO-B launch. It orbits in Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) at altitudes between 1,036 km and 125,273 km with an inclination of 15.9°. It travels at approximately 8,620 km/h (2.39 km/s), completing one full orbit every 50.7 hours — that’s roughly 0.47 orbits per day. Its orbital eccentricity of 0.8935 gives it a noticeably elliptical path, with significant altitude variation between perigee and apogee. At geostationary altitude, there is no meaningful atmospheric drag — this object will remain in orbit indefinitely unless actively deorbited. Spent rocket bodies like YZ-1S 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.

YZ-1S R/B follows a Highly Elliptical Orbit, sweeping between 1,036 km (perigee) and 125,273 km (apogee). It spends most of its 50.7 hours orbital period near apogee, effectively loitering over a region of interest before rapidly sweeping through perigee — a profile used for high-latitude communications (Molniya orbits), early-warning systems and magnetospheric science. With an inclination of 15.9°, YZ-1S R/B passes over latitudes between 15.9°N and 15.9°S, concentrating coverage over equatorial and near-equatorial regions. Low-inclination orbits maximise revisit rates over specific tropical zones. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total.