Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)
Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites orbit the Earth at approximately 23,000 miles above the equator and have a period of exactly one day. If looked at from Earth GEOs would look as if they were fixed in one location.
GEO satellites must have their sending and receiving antenna locked to each other to maintain line of sight and to do this they must rotate at the same speed of the Earth. A GEO satellite must also attain a specific orbit around the equator to keep away from other GEO satellites. The distance between GEO satellites is 2 degrees or 1000 miles.
Only three equally spaced GEO satellites are needed to cover the entire surface of the Earth, except or the Polar regions. The main drawback of a GEO satellite is the high latency with a value of 0.24 of a second.
Most of today's satellites are GEO satellites and their applications include communications and weather.
To get a good idea of how this type of satellite works click on this link about GEO satellites and click on 'Play' to see the animation:
Click on this link to review the wikipedia resource on GEO satellites.
Next: Polar Orbit
