The world’s leading space powers want to know how high above the equator others are. For more than a decade, the US military has operated a fleet of “inspector” satellites designed to approach and take pictures of other spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit. China began launching its own satellites for a similar mission in 2018.
There is Ars written about these activities geosynchronous orbit (GEO) before, but the last few months have seen several interesting developments. First, Russia has now joined the fray with the recent arrival of its own suspected probe (or attack) satellite to GEO. Second, the US Space Force is ready to order more, perhaps more, reconnaissance satellites to send to the geosynchronous belt.
GEO is special. The laws of orbital mechanics cause a satellite in this type of orbit, about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator, to orbit Earth at the same rate as the planet’s rotation, causing it to rotate in the same place. Commercial and military geosynchronous satellites typically spend years in the same location or slot to provide communications services to users.
