Geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit iscircular orbit inequatorial plane, any point on which revolves aboutEarth insame directionwithsame period asEarth's rotation.
A geostationary orbitan orbitwhichsatellitealways insame position (appears stationary)respect torotating Earth. The satellite travels aroundEarth insame direction, at an altitudeapproximately 35,790 km (22,240 statute miles) because that produces an orbital period equal toperiodrotation ofEarth (actually 23 hours, 56 minutes, 04.09 seconds- Not exactlylength ofday as thatdetermined both byEarth's orbit aroundsun androtation ofEarth itself.).
A worldwide networkoperational geostationary meteorological satellites provides visibleinfrared imagesEarth's surfaceatmosphere. The satellite systems includeU.S. GOES, METEOSAT(launched byEuropean Space Agencyoperated byEuropean Weather Satellite Organization-EUMETSAT),Japanese GMSmost commercial, telecommunications satellites.
Note: An object ingeostationary orbit will remain directly abovefixed point onequator atdistanceapproximately 42,164 km fromcenter ofEarth, i.e. , approximately 35,787 km above mean sea level.
A statite,typesatellite which usessolar sailmodify its orbit, can theoretically hold itself ingeostationary orbitdifferent altitude and/or inclination from"traditional" equatorial geostationary orbit.
Source: from Federal Standard 1037Cfrom MIL-STD-188
