Image Details
Caption: Figure 1.
Post-mission orbital lifetime for tracked payloads and rocket stages vs. average altitude of initial operational orbit. Maneuvering satellites are plotted in cyan (objects still in orbit) and black (objects that have reentered; almost all at the bottom left of the plot), while non-maneuvering satellites are plotted in blue (objects still in orbit) and red (objects that have reentered).
© 2020. Contribution of Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; not subject to copyright in the United States.