stationary orbit

British

noun

astronautics an orbit lying in, or approximately in, the plane of the equator for which the orbital period is equal to the spin period of the central body

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But the space agency charges approximately $28 million to put satellites into the geosynchronous, or stationary, orbit used for telecommunications signals.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ariane's launch site on the equator means that a gentler trajectory, and consequently less fuel, is required to boost a payload into stationary orbit.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the time appointed I sent the wake signal to the relay satellite, which was in stationary orbit about 300 miles over South Karhide.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023