parking orbit

noun

Aerospace.

1. a temporary orbit in which a spacecraft awaits the next phase of its mission.

parking orbit

noun

1. an orbit around the earth or moon in which a spacecraft can be placed temporarily in order to prepare for the next step in its programme

Word History and Origins

Origin of parking orbit¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Comet Interceptor is due to launch in 2029 into a parking orbit, from where it will lie in wait for a suitable target -- a pristine comet from the distant Oort Cloud that surrounds our Solar System, or, unlikely but highly appealing, an interstellar object like 3I/ATLAS.

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It was a crucial last step for JWST’s journey through the cosmos, capping off a 30-day voyage from the launchpad to its parking orbit roughly 1 million miles from Earth.

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Global Times reported that the Tianwen-1 probe lowered its altitude from its parking orbit before its lander-rover combination separated with the orbiter at around 4 p.m.

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The orbiter then rose and returned to its parking orbit about half an hour after the separation, to provide relay communication for the landing craft combo, the Chinese space agency told Global Times.

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The first stage, housing nine of SpaceX’s Merlin engines, does the initial heavy lifting, getting the rocket off the ground, while the second stage, with just a single Merlin engine, guides it into a parking orbit.

Read more on The Verge