Geostationary Orbit - Practical Uses

Practical Uses

Most commercial communications satellites, broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbits. A geostationary transfer orbit is used to move a satellite from low Earth orbit (LEO) into a geostationary orbit. (Russian television satellites have used elliptical Molniya and Tundra orbits due to the high latitudes of the receiving audience.) The first satellite placed into a geostationary orbit was the Syncom-3, launched by a Delta-D rocket in 1964.

A worldwide network of operational geostationary meteorological satellites is used to provide visible and infrared images of Earth's surface and atmosphere. These satellite systems include:

• the United States GOES
• Meteosat, launched by the European Space Agency and operated by the European Weather Satellite Organization, EUMETSAT
• the Japanese MTSAT
• India's INSAT series

A statite, a hypothetical satellite that uses a solar sail to modify its orbit, could theoretically hold itself in a geostationary "orbit" with different altitude and/or inclination from the "traditional" equatorial geostationary orbit.