SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) circle Earth above the equator from west to east following Earth’s rotation – taking 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds – by travelling at exactly the same rate as Earth. This makes satellites in GEO appear to be ‘stationary’ over a fixed position.

Detailed explanation-2: -Earth has 4, 550 satellites in orbit, as of Sept. 1, 2021.

Detailed explanation-3: -A geostationary orbit is actually a type of geosynchronous orbit. The key difference between a geostationary orbit and a geosynchronous orbit is while the latter can have any inclination, the former orbit sees satellites permanently ‘parked’ over the plane of Earth’s equator.

Detailed explanation-4: -Geostationary satellites support voice, data, and video services usually providing service to a particular region. A majority of U.S. long distance companies utilize geostationary satellites to provide back-up capacity for telephony service. Examples of GEO satellite systems include INTELSAT, Inmarsat, and PanAMSat.

Detailed explanation-5: -Geostationary orbits of 36, 000km from the Earth’s equator are best known for the many satellites used for various forms of telecommunication, including television. Signals from these satellites can be sent all the way round the world.