// ORBITAL LOGISTICS AND PROPULSION TERM
MEO
MEO stands for Medium Earth Orbit, which is a region of space between low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO), typically used by navigation satellites like GPS.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) is an Earth-centric orbital regime situated between 2,000 km and 35,786 km altitude, commonly utilized by navigation satellite systems (e.g., GPS, Galileo) and some communications constellations due to its balance of coverage and latency.
BACKGROUND
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, peaking in number at an altitude around 800 km (500 mi), while the farthest in LEO, before medium Earth orbit (MEO), have an altitude of 2,000 kilometers, about one-third of the radius of Earth and near the beginning of the inner Van Allen radiation belt.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- Medium Earth Orbit
- intermediate orbit
USAGE NOTE
Critical for global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) providing positioning, navigation, and timing services.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to MEO.
A global satellite operator that developed and operates the O3b and O3b mPOWER constellations in Medium Earth Orbit, providing low-latency, high-throughput data connectivity services.
The space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces that operates and maintains the Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite-based radionavigation system whose constellation is located in MEO.
The EU agency responsible for the operational management of European space programs, including Galileo, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that operates with a constellation of satellites in MEO.
An aerospace company that designs and manufactures satellites. Boeing is the prime contractor for the O3b mPOWER MEO satellite constellation for SES and has built previous generations of GPS satellites.
A global security and aerospace company that is the prime contractor for the current generation of GPS III and GPS IIIF satellites, which operate in MEO for the U.S. Space Force.
A Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer that served as the prime contractor for the first-generation O3b constellation and the Galileo system's satellites, both of which operate in MEO.
A communications company developing a new MEO satellite constellation called the "Outernet" designed to provide ultra-secure, low-latency global connectivity for enterprise and government sectors.
The state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space programs. Roscosmos operates the GLONASS global navigation satellite system, which utilizes a constellation in Medium Earth Orbit.