1. Low Earth Orbit Satellites
2. Medium Earth Orbit Definition
3. Medium Earth Orbit
4. How High Are Satellite Orbits

A medium earth orbit centric satellite constellation centralizes each member satellite in a medium earth orbit (MEO). The figure-1 depicts MEO (Medium Earth Orbit). LEO vs MEO vs GEO and satellite basics for more information. Advantages of MEO orbit. Following are the advantages of MEO orbit: MEO satellites are launched at higher altitude compare to LEO satellites. Hence less number of satellites are needed to cover entire area of the Earth. A medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite orbits the earth at an altitude above that of a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and below that of a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite. MEO, which is sometimes also called intermediate circular orbit (Ico), provides a vast range of options to those deploying satellites and strikes a balance between.

Medium Earth orbit (MEO), sometimes called intermediate circular orbit (ICO), is the region of space around Earth above low Earth orbit (altitude of 2,000 km (1,243 mi) above sea level) and below geosynchronous orbit (altitude of 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above sea level).^[1]

The orbit is home to a number of artificial satellites – the most common uses include navigation, communication, and geodetic/space environment science.^[1] The most common altitude is approximately 20,200 kilometres (12,552 mi), which yields an orbital period of 12 hours, as used, for example, by the Global Positioning System (GPS).^[1] Other satellites in medium Earth orbit include Glonass (with an altitude of 19,100 kilometres (11,900 mi)^[2]) and Galileo (with an altitude of 23,222 kilometres (14,429 mi))^[3] constellations.Communications satellites in MEO include the O3b and forthcoming O3b mPOWER constellations for telecommunications and data backhaul to maritime, aero and remote locations (with an altitude of 8,063 kilometres (5,010 mi)).^[4] Communications satellites that cover the North and South Pole are also put in MEO.^[5]

The orbital periods of MEO satellites range from about 2 to nearly 24 hours.^[1]Telstar 1, an experimental communications satellite launched in 1962, orbited in MEO.^[6]

Low Earth Orbit Satellites

Satellites in MEO orbits are perturbed by solar radiation pressure which is the dominating non-gravitational perturbing force.^[7] Other perturbing forces include: Earth's albedo, navigation antenna thrust, and thermal effects related to heat re-radiation.

See also[edit]

• Geostationary Earth orbit (GEO)
• High Earth orbit (HEO)
• Highly elliptical orbit (HEO)
• Low Earth orbit (LEO)

Notes[edit]

1. ^Orbital periods and speeds are calculated using the relations 4π²R³ = T²GM and V²R = GM, where R, radius of orbit in metres; T, orbital period in seconds; V, orbital speed in m/s; G, gravitational constant, approximately 6.673×10⁻¹¹ Nm²/kg²; M, mass of Earth, approximately 5.98×10²⁴ kg.
2. ^Approximately 8.6 times (in radius and length) when the moon is nearest (363104 km ÷ 42164 km) to 9.6 times when the moon is farthest (405696 km ÷ 42164 km).

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcd'Definitions of geocentric orbits from the Goddard Space Flight Center'. User support guide: platforms. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
2. ^'The Global Navigation System GLONASS: Development and Usage in the 21st Century'. 34th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting. 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
3. ^Galileo Satellites
4. ^O3b satellites
5. ^Satellite Basics: Solution BenefitsArchived 2013-11-19 at Archive.today
6. ^'Medium Earth Orbit'. Archived from the original on 2017-06-09. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
7. ^Bury, Grzegorz; Sośnica, Krzysztof; Zajdel, Radosław; Strugarek, Dariusz (February 2020). 'Toward the 1-cm Galileo orbits: challenges in modeling of perturbing forces'. Journal of Geodesy. 94 (2): 16. doi:10.1007/s00190-020-01342-2.

Geostationary or geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO)

GEO satellites are synchronous with respect to earth. Looking from a fixed point from Earth, these satellites appear to be stationary. These satellites are placed in the space in such a way that only three satellites are sufficient to provide connection throughout the surface of the Earth (that is; their footprint is covering almost 1/3rd of the Earth). The orbit of these satellites is circular.
There are three conditions which lead to geostationary satellites. Lifetime expectancy of these satellites is 15 years.
1) The satellite should be placed 37,786 kms (approximated to 36,000 kms) above the surface of the earth.
2) These satellites must travel in the rotational speed of earth, and in the direction of motion of earth, that is eastward.
3) The inclination of satellite with respect to earth must be 00. Geostationary satellite in practical is termed as geosynchronous as there are multiple factors which make these satellites shift from the ideal geostationary condition.

Medium Earth Orbit Definition

1) Gravitational pull of sun and moon makes these satellites deviate from their orbit. Over the period of time, they go through a drag. (Earth‟s gravitational force has no effect on these satellites due to their distance from the surface of the Earth.)
2) These satellites experience the centrifugal force due to the rotation of Earth, making them deviate from their orbit.
3) The non-circular shape of the earth leads to continuous adjustment of speed of satellite from the earth station.
These satellites are used for TV and radio broadcast, weather forecast and also, these satellites are operating as backbones for the telephone networks.
Disadvantages of GEO:

Northern or southern regions of the Earth (poles) have more problems receiving these satellites due to the low elevation above a latitude of 60°, i.e., larger antennas are needed in this case. Shading of the signals is seen in cities due to high buildings and the low elevation further away from the equator limit transmission quality. The transmit power needed is relatively high which causes problems for battery powered devices. These satellites cannot be used for small mobile phones. The biggest problem for voice and also data communication is the high latency as without having any handovers, the signal has to at least travel 72,000 kms. Due to the large footprint, either frequencies cannot be reused or the GEO satellite needs special antennas focusing on a smaller footprint. Transferring a GEO into orbit is very expensive.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites:

These satellites are placed 500-1500 kms above the surface of the earth. As LEOs circulate on a lower orbit, hence they exhibit a much shorter period that is 95 to 120 minutes. LEO systems try to ensure a high elevation for every spot on earth to provide a high quality communication link. Each LEO satellite will only be visible from the earth for around ten minutes.
Using advanced compression schemes, transmission rates of about 2,400 bit/s can be enough for voice communication. LEOs even provide this bandwidth for mobile terminals with Omni-directional antennas using low transmit power in the range of 1W. The delay for packets delivered via a LEO is relatively low (approx 10 ms). The delay is comparable to long-distance wired connections (about 5–10 ms). Smaller footprints of LEOs allow for better frequency reuse, similar to the concepts used for cellular networks. LEOs can provide a much higher elevation in Polar Regions and so better global coverage.

These satellites are mainly used in remote sensing an providing mobile communication services (due to lower latency).
Disadvantages:

The biggest problem of the LEO concept is the need for many satellites if global coverage is to be reached. Several concepts involve 50–200 or even more satellites in orbit. The short time of visibility with a high elevation requires additional mechanisms for connection handover between different satellites. The high number of satellites combined with the fast movements resulting in a high complexity of the whole satellite system. One general problem of LEOs is the short lifetime of about five to eight years due to atmospheric drag and radiation from the inner Van Allen belt1. Assuming 48 satellites and a lifetime of eight years, a new satellite would be needed every two months. The low latency via a single LEO is only half of the story. Other factors are the need for routing of data packets from satellite to if a user wants to communicate around the world. Due to the large footprint, a GEO typically does not need this type of routing, as senders and receivers are most likely in the same footprint.

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites:

MEOs can be positioned somewhere between LEOs and GEOs, both in terms of their orbit and due to their advantages and disadvantages. Using orbits around 10,000 km, the system only requires a dozen satellites which is more than a GEO system, but much less than a LEO system. These satellites move more slowly relative to the earth‟s rotation allowing a simpler system design (satellite periods are about six hours). Depending on the inclination, a MEO can cover larger populations, so requiring fewer handovers.
Disadvantages:

Again, due to the larger distance to the earth, delay increases to about 70–80 ms. the satellites need higher transmit power and special antennas for smaller footprints.
The above three are the major three categories of satellites, apart from these, the satellites are also classified based on the following types of orbits: 1.5.4) Sun- Synchronous Orbits satellites: These satellites rise and set with the sun. Their orbit is defined in such a way that they are always facing the sun and hence they never go through an eclipse. For these satellites, the surface illumination angle will be nearly the same every time.

surface illumination angle:

The illumination angle is the angle between the inward surface normal and the direction of light. This means that the illumination angle of a certain point of the Earth’s surface is zero if the Sun is precisely overhead and that it is 90 degrees at sunset and at sunrise.) Special cases of the sun-synchronous orbit are the noon/midnight orbit, where the local mean solar time of passage for equatorial longitudes is around noon or midnight, and the dawn/dusk orbit, where the local mean solar time of passage for equatorial longitudes is around sunrise or sunset, so that the satellite rides the terminator between day and night.

Hohmann Transfer Orbit:

This is an intermediate orbit having a highly elliptical shape. It is used by GEO satellites to reach their final destination orbits. This orbit is connected to the LEO orbit at the point of perigee forming a tangent and is connected to the GEO orbit at the point of apogee again forming a tangent.

Prograde orbit:

This orbit is with an inclination of less than 90°. Its direction is the same as the direction as the rotation of the primary (planet).

Retrograde orbit:

This orbit is with an inclination of more than 90°. Its direction is counter to the direction of rotation of the planet. Only few satellites are launched into retrograde orbit because the quantity of fuel required to launch them is much greater than for a prograde orbit. This is because when the rocket starts out on the ground, it already has an eastward component of velocity equal to the rotational velocity of the planet at its launch latitude.

Medium Earth Orbit

Polar Orbits

How High Are Satellite Orbits

This orbit passes above or nearly above both poles (north and south pole) of the planet on each of its revolutions. Therefore it has an inclination of (or very close to) 90 degrees. These orbits are highly inclined in shape.