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

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.

From The Verge

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.

From New York Times

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.

From New York Times

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.

From The Verge

China has already launched two smaller experimental space stations, placed a rover on the little-explored far side of the moon in 2019 and has a spacecraft, the Tianwen-1, in a parking orbit around Mars in anticipation of landing a rover on the surface in the coming months.

From Washington Times