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Satellites in geostationary orbit must all occupy a single ring above the equator. The requirement to space these satellites apart, to avoid harmful radio-frequency interference during operations, means that there are a limited number of orbital slots available, and thus only a limited number of satellites can be operated in geostationary orbit.
The spacecraft and its operator are then responsible for the maneuver into the final geostationary orbit. The 5-hour coast to first apogee can be longer than the battery lifetime of the launcher or spacecraft, and the maneuver is sometimes performed at a later apogee or split among multiple apogees.
Geostationary or geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO): An elliptic orbit where the perigee is at the altitude of a low Earth orbit (LEO) and the apogee at the altitude of a geostationary orbit. Hohmann transfer orbit : An orbital maneuver that moves a spacecraft from one circular orbit to another using two engine impulses .
A satellite in a geostationary orbit appears stationary, always at the same point in the sky, to ground observers. Popularly or loosely, the term "geosynchronous" may be used to mean geostationary. [1] Specifically, geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) may be a synonym for geosynchronous equatorial orbit, [2] or geostationary Earth orbit. [3]
A special case of the geosynchronous orbit, the geostationary orbit, has an eccentricity of zero (meaning the orbit is circular), and an inclination of zero in the Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed coordinate system (meaning the orbital plane is not tilted relative to the Earth's equator). The "ground track" in this case consists of a single point on ...
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), operated by the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service division, supports weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, and meteorology research. Spacecraft and ground-based elements of the ...
For geostationary satellites, the launch vehicle typically carries the spacecraft to Geostationary Transfer Orbit, or GTO. From this elliptical orbit, the LEOP generally includes a sequence of apogee engine firings to reach the circular geostationary orbit.
GOES-16's Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is the first operational lightning mapper flown in geostationary orbit. The spacecraft also includes four other scientific instruments for monitoring space weather and the Sun. GOES-16's design and instrumentation began in 1999 and was intended to fill key NOAA satellite requirements published that ...