// ORBITAL LOGISTICS AND PROPULSION TERM
Molniya Orbit
A highly elliptical orbit designed to provide long periods of coverage over high-latitude regions, often used by Russian communication satellites.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
A Molniya Orbit is a highly elliptical, inclined (typically 63.4 degrees) orbit with a long orbital period (approximately 12 hours), designed to provide extended dwell times over high-latitude regions, primarily for communications and remote sensing applications.
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
- Highly elliptical orbit (HEO)
- Russian communication orbit
USAGE NOTE
Ideal for communications with polar regions where geostationary satellites have poor visibility.