Jonathan's Space Pages

Catalog of Space Object Reentries

In this catalog I assess and categorize each reentry of a historical artificial space objects (payloads, rocket bodies, ejected parts but not fragmentation debris) to compare with present disposal standards.

• The Disposal Codes page explains the different kinds of satellite and rocket disposal tabulated below.
• The Stats section below summarizes the number of reentries of each kind, and the expected disposal type of each currently orbiting spacecraft.
• The data are in the Main Catalog and the columns in that catalog are explained in Column Descriptions

  
  A subset of the main catalog with only the known reentry locations is Main Catalog Subset

• There is also a tab-separated-value version of the Main Catalog and of the statistics summary and of the known-locations-only tab-separated-value subset of the Main Catalog

Statistical summary table [NOTE CAVEATS IN CODES.HTML!]

In the table below, rather than estimating casualty risk, we regard reentries of objects with masses greater than a threshold mass M0 as problematic.

For this edition of the table, M0 has been set to 5000 kg. Note that less massive objects, depending on design, may also pose a significant casualty risk.

Explanation of columns for this table

Updated: 2026 Aug 3 2256:13

ReentryStats
Code	Desc	Clause	Star Disposed	Star Active	PL Disposed	PL Active	RB	Parts	Total free	PL Att Disp	PL Att Ac	Total
Disposal consistent with US ODMSP
D-SO	Down/SO Targeted	a1	0	0	5	0	509	28	542	0	0	542
D-DO	Down/Deorbited	a1	0	0	396	0	902	2031	3329	0	0	3329
D-LAND	Down/Landed	a1/f	0	0	2112	0	1	0	2113	0	0	2113
D-LEO25	Down/LEO Reentry <25yr, Low mass M<M0	b	1784	0	4233	0	3469	6293	13995	291	0	14286
D-NL25	Down/LEO-crossing <25yr, Low mass M<M0	b	0	0	221	0	663	596	1480	2	0	1482
U-LEO25	Up/LEO <25yr expected,Low mass M<M0	b	14	10882	1777	1699	116	39	3631	9	0	3640
U-NL25	Up/LEO-crossing <25yr expected, Low mass M<M0	b	0	0	0	0	12	10	22	2	0	24
U-MEO-E	MEO Graveyard (ell.)	c.I	0	0	23	8	218	105	354	6	0	360
U-MEO-C	MEO Graveyard (circ)	c.II	0	0	205	101	124	57	487	7	0	494
U-GGYD	GEO Graveyard	d	0	0	13	589	60	13	675	2	0	677
D-LUN	Down/Lunar	L	0	0	85	0	8	66	159	0	0	159
U-HEL	Heliocentric	a2	0	0	261	43	227	316	847	9	0	856
Subtotal G	Subtotal good disposal	-	1798	10882	9331	2440	6309	9554	27634	328	0	27962
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Other disposal
D-LEO25M	Down/LEO Reentry <25yr, Massive M>M0	-	0	0	38	0	113	0	151	3	0	154
D-NL25M	Down/LEO-crossing <25yr, Massive M>M0	-	0	0	0	0	9	0	9	0	0	9
U-LEO25M	Up/LEO <25yr expected, Massive M>M0	-	0	0	8	0	8	0	16	0	0	16
D-LEO	Down/LEO Reentry >25yr	-	0	0	64	0	51	95	210	0	0	210
D-NL	Down/LEO-crossing Reentry >25yr	-	0	0	27	0	48	68	143	1	0	144
U-LEO+	Up/LEO >25yr exceeded	-	0	0	1307	0	652	496	2455	14	0	2469
U-LEO	Up/LEO >25yr expected	-	0	0	923	866	256	333	2378	11	0	2389
U-NL+	Up/LEO-crossing >25yr exceeded	-	0	0	25	0	23	108	156	2	0	158
U-NL	Up/LEO-crossing >25yr expected	-	0	0	5	0	7	75	87	0	0	87
U-DEST	Destroyed	-	0	0	9	0	4	3	16	0	0	16
U-GTO	Crosses LEO and GEO	-	0	0	127	46	362	136	671	3	0	674
U-XMEO	Violates MEO rule	-	0	0	46	37	5	3	91	0	0	91
U-XGEO	Crosses GEO	-	0	0	39	0	122	45	206	1	0	207
U-GEO	In GEO	-	0	0	765	0	136	121	1022	0	0	1022
U-CISL	Cislunar	-	0	0	19	7	0	5	31	0	0	31
Subtotal B	Subtotal bad disposal	-	0	0	3402	956	1796	1488	7642	35	0	7677
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note: "Good disposal" means good from the point of view of risk for in-orbit debris collisions; can still be very "bad" from the point of view of ground casualty list for massive reentries.

Further caveats on the following items from US ODMSP Section 4-1:

• a(1): Casualty risk not addressed.
• b: Area-time rule and casualty risk not addressed.
• c.I: Perturbations not modelled
• c.II: Perturbations not modelled
• d: 100 km pad used as a proxy for unmodelled perturbations
• e: This clause (resonance deorbit) not addressed at all
• f: Not currently addressed except for intact spacecraft landings.
• Lunar disposal not mentioned in ODMSP.

Note: The ESA standard (ESSB-ST-U-007, 2023) and the ISO standard (ISO-24113, 2023) have generally similar requirements to the US standard, although the ISO standard restricts the GEO protected zone to inclinations of less than 15 degrees, and the ESA standard could use some improvements in clarity.