ZQ-2E R/B

ZQ-2E R/B is a spent rocket body associated with China, launched on 2026-05-13 from Jiuquan, China on the Dummy sat launch. As a relatively recent addition to the catalogue, its orbital elements are well-characterised. It orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at altitudes between 206 km and 813 km with an inclination of 89.0°. It travels at approximately 27,401 km/h (7.61 km/s), completing one full orbit every 95 minutes — that’s roughly 15.19 orbits per day. At its current altitude, the estimated orbital lifetime before atmospheric re-entry is ~3–10 years. Spent rocket bodies like ZQ-2E 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.

ZQ-2E R/B orbits at an average altitude of 510 km in the core of Low Earth Orbit, the most heavily utilised altitude band. The balance of moderate drag (limiting debris accumulation) and short signal path (enabling low-latency links and high-resolution imaging) makes this regime the default for most commercial and government missions. Within ±50 km of ZQ-2E R/B’s average altitude, there are currently 9,590 active payloads and 262 tracked debris or rocket body fragments — notable neighbours include STARLINK-1017, STARLINK-1039, STARLINK-1047. This makes it one of the more crowded altitude bands, containing roughly 54.8% of all active satellites. With an inclination of 89.0°, ZQ-2E R/B passes over latitudes between 89.0°N and 89.0°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. China operates approximately 1,221 active satellites in total, of which 220 share a similar altitude band with ZQ-2E R/B.