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 Sep 9 2147:31

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	508	28	541	0	0	541
D-DO	Down/Deorbited	a1	0	0	398	0	919	2031	3348	0	0	3348
D-LAND	Down/Landed	a1/f	0	0	2134	0	1	0	2135	0	0	2135
D-LEO25	Down/LEO Reentry <25yr, Low mass M<M0	b	1838	0	4254	0	3476	6296	14026	292	0	14318
D-NL25	Down/LEO-crossing <25yr, Low mass M<M0	b	0	0	247	0	702	637	1586	8	0	1594
U-LEO25	Up/LEO <25yr expected,Low mass M<M0	b	13	11120	1775	1726	121	40	3662	9	0	3671
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	24	8	220	105	357	6	0	363
U-MEO-C	MEO Graveyard (circ)	c.II	0	0	207	100	125	57	489	7	0	496
U-GGYD	GEO Graveyard	d	0	0	24	579	60	19	682	2	0	684
D-LUN	Down/Lunar	L	0	0	85	0	8	66	159	0	0	159
U-HEL	Heliocentric	a2	0	0	183	33	148	227	591	3	0	594
Subtotal G	Subtotal good disposal	-	1851	11120	9336	2446	6300	9516	27598	329	0	27927
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	11	5	16	0	0	16
U-LEO25M	Up/LEO <25yr expected, Massive M>M0	-	0	0	11	0	8	0	19	0	0	19
D-LEO	Down/LEO Reentry >25yr	-	0	0	65	0	51	95	211	0	0	211
D-NL	Down/LEO-crossing Reentry >25yr	-	0	0	30	0	49	69	148	1	0	149
U-LEO+	Up/LEO >25yr exceeded	-	0	0	1307	0	653	496	2456	14	0	2470
U-LEO	Up/LEO >25yr expected	-	0	0	924	892	257	333	2406	10	0	2416
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	49	363	139	678	3	0	681
U-XMEO	Violates MEO rule	-	0	0	46	37	5	3	91	0	0	91
U-XGEO	Crosses GEO	-	0	0	41	0	126	45	212	1	0	213
U-GEO	In GEO	-	0	0	780	0	136	121	1037	0	0	1037
U-CISL	Cislunar	-	0	0	31	13	34	38	116	0	0	116
Subtotal B	Subtotal bad disposal	-	0	0	3439	991	1840	1530	7800	34	0	7834
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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.