A near-equatorial orbit is an orbit that lies close to the equatorial plane of the primary body orbited. Such an orbit has an inclination near 0°. On Earth...

satellites into polar orbit requires a larger launch vehicle to launch a given payload to a given altitude than for a near-equatorial orbit at the same altitude...

Equatorial orbit: A non-inclined orbit with respect to the equator. Near equatorial orbit: An orbit whose inclination with respect to the equatorial plane...

cases of the Sun-synchronous orbit are the noon/midnight orbit, where the local mean solar time of passage for equatorial latitudes is around noon or midnight...

on orbit height. Satellites in orbits that reach altitudes below 300 km (190 mi) decay quickly due to atmospheric drag. Equatorial low Earth orbits (ELEO)...

A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km (22,236 mi) in altitude...

In orbital mechanics a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is a halo orbit that passes close to the smaller of two bodies and has nearly stable behavior...

satellite's orbit is the same as the Earth's equatorial plane, and the satellite's orbital inclination is 0°. The general case for a circular orbit is that...

An areostationary orbit, areosynchronous equatorial orbit (AEO), or Mars geostationary orbit is a circular areo­synchronous orbit (ASO) approximately...

that its orbital plane is closer to the ecliptic plane instead of its primary's (in this case, Earth's) equatorial plane. The Moon's orbital plane is...

Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance of 149.60 million km (92.96 million mi), or 8.317 light-minutes, in a counterclockwise direction as viewed...

heliocentric orbit (also called circumsolar orbit) is an orbit around the barycenter of the Solar System, which is usually located within or very near the surface...

satellite reaches its final orbit. The orbital inclination of a GTO is the angle between the orbit plane and the Earth's equatorial plane. It is determined...

the orbit passes crosses the reference plane, represented by the green angle i in the diagram). Inclinations near zero indicate equatorial orbits, and...

In astrodynamics, an orbit equation defines the path of orbiting body m 2 {\displaystyle m_{2}\,\!} around central body m 1 {\displaystyle m_{1}\,\!}...

mechanics a parabolic trajectory is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity (e) equal to 1 and is an unbound orbit that is exactly on the border between elliptical...

A high Earth orbit is a geocentric orbit with an apogee farther than that of the geosynchronous orbit, which is 35,786 km (22,236 mi) away from Earth....

astrodynamics or celestial mechanics, a hyperbolic trajectory or hyperbolic orbit (from Newtonian theory: hyperbola shape) is the trajectory of any object...

In astrodynamics and celestial dynamics, the orbital state vectors (sometimes state vectors) of an orbit are Cartesian vectors of position ( r {\displaystyle...

graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a...

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...

approximates an elliptical orbit about the Earth with an apogee near to the radius of the Moon's orbit. The TLI burn is sized and timed to precisely target the...

a small orbiting body relative to a larger orbiting body. The osculating (instantaneous) orbital period of the smaller body remains very near that of...

thruster burns to keep the active craft in the same orbit as its target. For many low Earth orbit satellites, the effects of non-Keplerian forces, i.e...

However, a synchronous orbit need not be equatorial; nor circular. A body in a non-equatorial synchronous orbit will appear to oscillate north and south...

Halo orbit A halo orbit is a periodic, non-planar orbit associated with one of the L1, L2 or L3 Lagrange points in the three-body problem of orbital mechanics...

an elliptical orbit or eccentric orbit is an orbit with an eccentricity of less than 1; this includes the special case of a circular orbit, with eccentricity...

trajectory In orbital mechanics, a Lissajous orbit (pronounced [li.sa.ʒu]), named after Jules Antoine Lissajous, is a quasi-periodic orbital trajectory that...

in the equatorial plane). But: conic sections may occur on surfaces of higher order, too (see image). In celestial mechanics, for bound orbits in a spherical...

An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least...