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A low Earth orbit ( LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. [1] Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, peaking in number at an altitude around 800 km (500 mi), [2] while the farthest in LEO, before medium Earth orbit (MEO ...
Transatmospheric orbit (TAO): geocentric orbits with an apogee above 100 km and perigee that intersects with the defined atmosphere. Very low Earth orbit (VLEO) is defined as altitudes between approximately 100 - 450 km above Earth’s surface. Low Earth orbit (LEO): geocentric orbits with altitudes below 2,000 km (1,200 mi).
Very low Earth orbit. Very low Earth orbit is a range of orbital altitudes below 400 km (250 mi), and is of increasing commercial importance in a variety of scenarios and for multiple applications, in both private and government satellite operations. Applications include earth observation, radar, infrared, weather, telecommunications, and rural ...
Space of Medium Earth orbits (MEO) as pink area, with Earth and the distance of the orbit of the Moon for reference and to scale. A medium Earth orbit ( MEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between 2,000 and 35,786 km (1,243 and 22,236 mi) above sea level. [1]
Typical Sun-synchronous orbits around Earth are about 600–800 km (370–500 mi) in altitude, with periods in the 96–100- minute range, and inclinations of around 98°. This is slightly retrograde compared to the direction of Earth's rotation: 0° represents an equatorial orbit, and 90° represents a polar orbit. [5]
Earth orbit (yellow) compared to a circle (gray) Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (8.317 light minutes, 92.96 million mi) [1] in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from above the Northern Hemisphere. One complete orbit takes 365.256 days (1 sidereal year ), during which time Earth has traveled 940 million km ...
However, very low orbits rapidly decay due to drag from the atmosphere. Commonly used altitudes are between 700 and 800 km, producing an orbital period of about 100 minutes. The half-orbit on the Sun side then takes only 50 minutes, during which local time of day does not vary greatly.
To transfer from a circular low Earth orbit with r 0 = 6700 km to a new circular orbit with r 1 = 93 800 km using a Hohmann transfer orbit requires a Δv of 2825.02 + 1308.70 = 4133.72 m/s. However, because r 1 = 14 r 0 > 11.94 r 0 , it is possible to do better with a bi-elliptic transfer.