What is Geosynchronous?
| Geographical Synchronization Orbit |
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An object orbiting the earth at the earth's rotational speed and with the same direction of rotation. The object will appear at the same position in the sky at a particular time each day, but will not appear stationary if not orbiting in the equatorial plane. A particular type of orbit pattern for satellites. This is an abbreviation for geographical synchronization. This type of orbit synchronizes its position with that of a point on the Earth. In order to do that, the orbit must be 22,282 miles above the equator. For all practical purposes, it appears to be stationary since the satellite's orbit and Earth's rotation are in the same direction and at the same speed. Logically, one would assume such a satellite would be an ideal platform in space for cellular telephone relays and similar digital interactive transmissions. However, due to the great distance involved, the amount of time for sound to travel is not good for cellular calls. Much lower satellites must be used for such calls. They are ideal for streaming media such as TV signals, streaming data and other burst oriented transmissions. Geosynchronous systems include Inmarsat and OmniTRACS. The Inmarsat system uses allocations in the 6 GHz band from the ground station to the satellite, 1.5 GHz for the satellite-to-terminal downlink, 1.6 GHz for the terminal-to-satellite uplink, and 1 GHz from the satellite to the ground station. |
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