Orbital period
The orbital period is the time a satellite takes to complete one full orbit, set almost entirely by its altitude.
A low Earth orbit satellite circles in about 90 minutes, while a geostationary satellite takes exactly 24 hours to match Earth's spin.
The higher the orbit, the longer the period — a relationship formalized by Kepler's third law.
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Related terms
- Apogee — Apogee is the point in an orbit around Earth where the satellite is farthest from the planet.
- Perigee — Perigee is the point in an orbit around Earth where the satellite is closest to the planet.
- GEO — Geostationary orbit (GEO) is the circular orbit 35,786 km above the equator where a satellite's period exactly matches Earth's rotation, so it appears fixed over one spot.
