Earth Orbits
| orbit | center-to-center distance |
altitude above the Earth's surface |
speed | Orbital period | specific orbital energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth's surface (for comparison) | 6,400 km | 0 km | 7.89 km/s (17,650 mph) | — | -62.6 MJ/kg |
| Low Earth orbit | 6,600 to 8,400 km | 200 to 2,000 km | circular orbit: 7.8 to 6.9 km/s (17,450 mph to 15,430 mph) respectively elliptic orbit: 8.2 to 6.5 km/s respectively |
89 to 128 min | -17.0 MJ/kg |
| Molniya orbit | 6,900 to 46,300 km | 500 to 39,900 km | 10.0 to 1.5 km/s (22,370 mph to 3,335 mph) respectively | 11 h 58 min | -4.7 MJ/kg |
| GEO | 42,000 km | 35,786 km | 3.1 km/s (6,935 mph) | 23 h 56 min | -4.6 MJ/kg |
| Orbit of the Moon | 363,000 to 406,000 km | 357,000 to 399,000 km | 1.08 to 0.97 km/s (2,416 to 2,170 mph) respectively | 27.3 days | -0.5 MJ/kg |
Read more about this topic: Orbital Speed
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To me, however, the question of the times resolved itself into a practical question of the conduct of life. How shall I live? We are incompetent to solve the times. Our geometry cannot span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return, and reconcile their opposition. We can only obey our own polarity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)