Introduction

A geostationary apogee can alone be accomplished at an distance actual abutting to 35,786 km (22,236 mi), and anon aloft the equator. This equates to an alternate acceleration of 3.07 km/s (1.91 mi/s) or a aeon of 1,436 minutes, which equates to about absolutely one sidereal day or 23.934461223 hours. This makes faculty because that the accessory charge be bound to the Earth's rotational aeon in adjustment to accept a anchored brand on the ground. In practice, this agency that all geostationary satellites accept to abide on this ring, which poses problems for satellites that will be decommissioned at the end of their account lives (e.g., back they run out of thruster fuel). Such satellites will either abide to be acclimated in absorbed orbits (where the alternate clue appears to chase a figure-eight bend centered on the equator), or abroad be animated to a "graveyard" auctioning orbit.

A geostationary alteration apogee is acclimated to move a accessory from low Earth apogee (LEO) into a geostationary orbit.

A common arrangement of operational geostationary meteorological satellites is acclimated to accommodate arresting and bittersweet images of Earth's apparent and atmosphere. These accessory systems include:

the United States GOES

Meteosat, launched by the European Space Agency and operated by the European Weather Accessory Organization, EUMETSAT

the Japanese MTSAT

India's INSAT series

Most bartering communications satellites, advertisement satellites and SBAS satellites accomplish in geostationary orbits. (Russian television satellites accept acclimated egg-shaped Molniya and Tundra orbits due to the aerial latitudes of the accepting audience.) The aboriginal accessory placed into a geostationary apogee was the Syncom-3, launched by a Delta-D rocket in 1964.

A statite, a academic accessory that uses a solar captain to adapt its orbit, could apparently authority itself in a "geostationary" apogee with altered distance and/or affection from the "traditional" close geostationary orbit.