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Types of Satellite Orbits

There are 4 types of orbits, they are:

1. GEO (Geo-stationary earth orbit)

2. MEO (medium earth orbit)

3. LEO (Low earth orbit) and

4. HEO (Highly elliptical orbit)

Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit

These satellites have almost a distance of 36,000 km to the earth.
E.g. All radio and TV, whether satellite etc, are launched in this orbit.

Advantages of Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit

1. It is possible to cover almost all parts of the earth with just 3 geo satellites.

2. Antennas need not be adjusted every now and then but can be fixed permanently.

3. The life-time of a GEO satellite is quite high usually around 15 years.

Disadvantages of Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit

1. Larger antennas are required for northern/southern regions of the earth.

2. High buildings in a city limit the transmission quality.

3. High transmission power is required.

4. These satellites cannot be used for small mobile phones.

5. Fixing a satellite at Geo stationary orbit is very expensive.

Medium Earth Orbit

Satellite at different orbits operates at different heights. The MEO satellite operates at about
5000 to 12000 km away from the earth's surface.

These orbits have moderate number of satellites.

Advantages of Medium Earth Orbit

1. Compared to LEO system, MEO requires only a dozen satellites.

2. Simple in design.

3. Requires very few handovers.

Disadvantages of Medium Earth Orbit

1. Satellites require higher transmission power.

2. Special antennas are required.

Low Earth Orbit

LEO satellites operate at a distance of about 500-1500 km.

Advantages of Low Earth Orbit

1. The antennas can have low transmission power of about 1 watt.

2. The delay of packets is relatively low.

3. Useful for smaller foot prints.

Disadvantages of Low Earth Orbit

1. If global coverage is required, it requires at least 50-200 satellites in this orbit.

2. Special handover mechanisms are required.

3. These satellites involve complex design.

4. Very short life: Time of 5-8 years. Assuming 48 satellites with a life-time of 8 years
each, a new satellite is needed every 2 months.

5. Data packets should be routed from satellite to satellite.

Highly Elliptical Orbit

This orbit is made for satellites that do not revolve in circular orbits, only a very few satellite
are operating in this orbit.

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Popular Orbits 101

PublishedNovember 30, 2017
Last UpdatedMarch 30, 2020

Although the space beyond Earth’s atmosphere is vast, human-made satellites are typically
located in one of three popular orbital regimes: low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit
(MEO), and geosynchronous orbit (GEO).

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

The majority of satellites orbiting the Earth do so at altitudes between 160 and 2,000
kilometers. This orbital regime is called low Earth orbit, or LEO, due to the satellites’
relative closeness to the Earth. Satellites in LEO typically take between 90 minutes and 2
hours to complete one full orbit around the Earth. Low altitudes in combination with short
orbital periods make LEO satellites ideally situated for remote sensing missions, including
Earth observation and reconnaissance. Fifty-five percent of all operational satellites are in
LEO.

Polar Orbits

Some LEO satellites orbit such that they pass over (or nearly pass over) both of the Earth’s
poles during orbit. This highly-inclined, low-altitude orientation is called a polar orbit. Due
to the rotation of the Earth, satellites in polar orbit pass over a different vertical swath of the
planet’s surface on each revolution. Using a polar orbital regime, a single satellite could
observe every point on Earth twice in one 24-hour day.

Satellite Constellations

Although a single satellite in polar orbit can eventually observe every point on Earth’s
surface, it is not able to create a snapshot of the Earth; that is, a composite image of every
inch of the planet’s surface at a single moment. Such a capability can only be completed in
low Earth orbit by a large collection of satellites, or a satellite constellation. Satellite
constellations can be utilized for personal communications, early missile-warning, and space-
based weapons systems.

Key Examples

With the exception of the Apollo missions, all human space activity has occurred in low Earth orbit.
The International Space Station, which currently hosts six astronauts, has an average altitude of about
350 kilometers.

The Iridium satellite constellation is a 66-satellite full-coverage constellation orbiting at

about 780 kilometers. Iridium provides personal communication services through satellite
phones.

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

Although over 90 percent of all satellites are situated in LEO (below 2,000 kilometers) and
GEO (near 36,000 kilometers), the space between the two most popular orbital regimes can
be an ideal environment for a smaller subset of satellite systems. Satellites in this middle-of-
the-road region, appropriately named medium Earth orbit, have larger footprints than LEO
satellites (meaning they can see more of the Earth’s surface at a time) and lower transmission
times time than GEO satellites (meaning they have a shorter signal delay because they aren’t
as far away).

Van Allen Radiation Belt

One reason there are fewer satellites in MEO than LEO or GEO is the presence of the Van Allen
belts. The Van Allen belts are two doughnut shaped regions surrounding the Earth, centered on its
polar axis, where the Earth’s magnetic field traps charged particles from solar winds and cosmic rays,
which can damage satellites’ onboard electronic systems. High radiation environments in general can
also damage solar arrays, which convert energy to electricity to power satellites after they have
achieved their desired orbit.

The inner belt extends from roughly 500 km to 5,500 km at the equator and the outer belt
extends from 12,000 km to 22,000 km. Satellites in these regions can be outfitted with
shielding to lower the risk of damage during their operational lifetime.

Highly Elliptical Orbits (HEO)

Although many of the orbits previously discussed assume a circular or nearly circular path
around the Earth, some satellites are situated such that they orbit the Earth in an oblong
elliptical path, called highly elliptical orbit, or HEO. While, a satellite in an inclined circular
orbit spends an equal amount of time in the northern and southern hemispheres, satellite in
inclined HEO spends a significantly greater portion of its orbit over one hemisphere than the
other, due to Kepler’s second law of planetary motion.

Key Examples
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a 24-satellite constellation, with each satellite in circular
MEO with an altitude of about 20,000 km. The constellation is oriented such that at any given
moment, every point on Earth has access to four GPS satellites.

One example of a highly elliptical orbit is a Molniya orbit. Molniya orbits have an
inclination of 63.4 degrees, an apogee of about 40,000 km and a perigee of about 1,000 km.
For the majority of their periods, satellites in Molniya orbit are primarily observing the
northern hemisphere of the Earth. Since both the United States and Russia are in the northern
hemisphere, Molniya orbits were ideal for reconnaissance in the Cold War Era.

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)

The period of a satellite, or how long it takes to orbit the Earth one time, is dependent on its
orbital altitude. Satellites in LEO, like the International Space Station, take about 90 minutes
to orbit the Earth. Satellites in MEO take about 12 hours to do the same.

Satellites orbiting at 35,786 km have a period precisely equal to one day. Satellites in this
orbit, known as geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO, observe the Earth as if it were not
rotating. Because of this property, satellites in GEO are constantly in the field of view for
approximately one-third the planet’s surface.

While about 55 percent of all operational satellites are in LEO, another 35 percent are in
GEO, making it the second most popular orbital regime.

Geostationary Orbit

Most satellites in GEO have no inclination, meaning they orbit directly above Earth’s equator.
Satellites with these properties are called geostationary, since from any point on Earth they appear in
precisely the same point in the sky at any given moment. Geostationary satellites are popular for
communications and broadcasting.

Transmission Time

Geosynchronous orbit is significantly farther away from Earth than LEO or MEO. For satellites
located in LEO, the time it takes for a signal to be transmitted from the ground to a satellite and back
is approximately 0.003 seconds. For a satellite in GEO, that delay increases to 0.25 seconds, requiring
echo control and time delay considerations that are more negligible for lower altitude orbits.

Key Examples

Some examples of satellites in GEO include the Intelsat communications satellites and the DISH
Network direct broadcasting satellites.

Other Orbits
Some orbits have special properties that make them ideal for specific satellite missions. Only
a small fraction of operational satellites fall into this category.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Because of irregularities in Earth’s gravitational field, satellite orbits around the Earth precess over
time, meaning the orbital plane slowly rotates about one of planet’s axes. When a satellite orbit’s
precession aligns with the rotation of the Earth about the Sun, the satellite is in sun-synchronous
orbit, or SSO. When satellites in SSO pass over a given point on Earth, they observe it at the same
local time on each orbit. Such conditions are ideal for Earth imaging systems. Some SSOs are
oriented such that the satellite’s solar arrays are constantly facing the sun, lessening their dependence
on onboard batteries. Satellites in SSO may also be in LEO or MEO.

Lagrange Points

Lagrange points are special locations in the Earth-Sun orbital plane in which satellites orbit the Sun
while maintaining a fixed position relative to Earth’s center of gravity. Lagrange points are caused by
the balance between the gravitational fields of two large bodies; equilibria between two pulling forces.
Of the five Lagrange points in the Earth-Sun system, three are unstable (L1, L2, and L3), meaning
they require periodic orbital adjustments to maintain their position, and two are stable (L4 and L5),
meaning no adjustments are required.

Lagrange points, especially L2, are particularly well situated for scientific studies of the
universe, including NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and
European Space Agency’s Planck mission.