A circular orbit about 35,786 km above the equator where a satellite circles at the same rate Earth rotates, so it appears fixed in the sky.
A satellite in geostationary orbit completes one orbit in the same time Earth takes to rotate once, so from the ground it seems to hover over one spot. This makes it ideal for services that need a constant view of a region, such as television broadcasting, weather monitoring, and some communications.
A ground antenna can point at a geostationary satellite once and never move, which is why satellite TV dishes are fixed. Just three well-spaced satellites can cover most of the populated planet. The trade-off is distance: signals must travel a long way up and back, adding noticeable latency to internet connections. Newer broadband systems often use low Earth orbit constellations to reduce that delay.
The region of space roughly 160 to 2,000 km above Earth, home to the International Space Station and many communication satellites.
Satellite ConstellationA group of satellites working together as a system to provide coverage, such as global internet, navigation, or Earth imaging.
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