High Earth orbit
Encyclopedia
Geocentric orbit
A geocentric orbit involves any object orbiting the Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. Currently there are approximately 2,465 artificial satellites orbiting the Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center...
whose apogee lies above that of a geosynchronous orbit
Geosynchronous orbit
A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth with an orbital period that matches the Earth's sidereal rotation period...
(35786 kilometres (22,236.4 mi)).
Highly Elliptical Orbit
Highly Elliptical Orbit
A highly elliptical orbit is an elliptic orbit with a low-altitude perigee and a high-altitude apogee. It is a type of high Earth orbit....
s are a subset of High Earth Orbits.
Examples of satellites in High Earth Orbit
| Name | NSSDC ID | Launch Date | Perigee | Apogee | Period | Inclination | Eccentricity | Highly Elliptical Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Molniya 1-01 Molniya (satellite) Molniya was a military communications satellite system used by the Soviet Union. The satellites were placed into highly eccentric elliptical orbits known as Molniya orbits, characterised by an inclination of +63.4 degrees and a period of around 12 hours... |
1965-030A | 1965-04-23 | 538 km | 39,300 km | 708.0 min | 65.0° | 0.736864 | yes |
| Vela 1A Vela (satellite) Vela was the name of a group of satellites developed as the Vela Hotel element of Project Vela by the United States to monitor compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty by the Soviet Union, and other nuclear-capable states. It means vigil or "watch" in Spanish.Vela started out as a small... |
1963-039A | 1963-10-17 | 101,925 km | 116,528 km | 6,519.6 min | 37.8° | 0.063 | no |