Aero-Terms!

Designed to be a daily reminder of the terms, names, acronyms and explanations of the unique language that populates the aviation world, ANN Contributor Aleta "I'm Not Making An Asterisk Of Myself" Vinas will be selecting... and presenting unique aeronautical terms each day from all tiers of the aviation world...

Aerospace, sport aviation, fixed wing, helo, you name it... it's all fair game and with a full year's selection already coming together, we can assure you that Aero-Terms should serve as a quick but intriguing reminder of the terms you may use every day or an introduction to an aspects of the Aero-World you may not yet be familiar with. ANN also encourages readers to go beyond the FMI link, and further research any intriguing terms.

Cool, no?

Suggestions for future Aero-Terms are ALWAYS welcome, as are additions or discussion of the explanations given for each Aero-Term.

Geosynchronous Orbit

A satellite in circular orbit around the Earth's equator at 23,000 miles altitude (36,000 km) will remain stationary over the same location on Earth (i.e., the spacecraft goes around once in its orbit for every revolution of the Earth). This feature is very useful for communications satellites (allowing one satellite to provide continual coverage to a given area of the Earth's surface). As a result, the majority of satellites in geostationary orbit are commsats. Some satellites have orbits slightly higher or lower than GEO, but for simplicity's sake, all satellites with apogees and perigees between 30000 and 40000 km are termed GEO.

FMI: http://leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/glossary.html