Value chain · CLM-0749
In plain terms
A 2010 international radio recommendation said the smallest object that could then be tracked in geostationary orbit was just under a metre across, against 30 centimetres in low orbit, so smaller debris up there went unseen, and it said other break-ups at that altitude had quite likely gone unnoticed.
The claim as recorded
The same Recommendation states that knowledge of the geostationary environment is limited by the resolution of Earth-based observations, that the smallest object detectable and trackable under best conditions in the GSO is slightly less than 1 m, and that by comparison in low-Earth orbit objects above 30 cm are deterministically catalogued and objects down to 5 mm are statistically characterised as to altitude and inclination; it records approximately 1,100 known spacecraft and rocket bodies near the GSO in 2010 of which approximately one-third were then operational, and states that two fragmentations have been identified in the geostationary region, both characterised as explosion events, adding that it is quite likely that other events have escaped detection due to the limitations of observation methods at that altitude.
Scope and limits
This is a 2010 statement of observational capability. Ground-based and space-based GEO surveillance may well have improved since, and the newest held debris report, SRC-226 (ESA, 2026), gives GEO object counts but no smallest trackable size, so the 1 m floor may NOT be presented as the current state of GEO tracking. The 1,100-object count and the one-third operational fraction are explicitly dated 2010 and must not be quoted as current; SRC-226 gives a current GEO population (961 catalogued objects in the GEO orbit class defined in its Table 1.2, at end of 2025, p.63 Table 3.1), but this record does not use it: it records a 2010 tracking floor, not a count. The two-fragmentation count is as at 2010.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
printed p.2, paraphrased except where quoted: the smallest dimension of an object detectable and trackable in the GSO at present, "under best conditions", is "slightly less than 1 m"; by comparison, in low-Earth orbit objects above 30 cm are "deterministically known and catalogued" and objects down to 5 mm are statistically characterised as to altitude and inclination. Same page, paraphrased: in 2010 there were approximately 1,100 known spacecraft and rocket bodies near the GSO, of which approximately one-third were then operational. Same page: two fragmentations have been identified in the geostationary region, "both characterized as explosion events"; and, verbatim: "It is quite likely that there have been other events that have escaped detection due to the limitations of observation methods at this altitude."
Basis: smallest trackable object dimension, m and cm, by orbit regime; object counts near GSO
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-011 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0749
CLM-0749, Energy Aperture, as of 2010-12.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-227
- CLM-0748The international radio standard says collisions in geostationary orbit happen at around 500 metres per second, far slower than in low...CLM-0750The 2020 edition of the international debris guidelines says a retiring geostationary satellite should climb at least 235 km above its...CLM-0751Working the international disposal formula through by hand shows that for a very large and very light satellite the extra height it must...