Geosynchronous Orbit - Orbital Characteristics

Orbital Characteristics

All Earth geosynchronous orbits, whether circular or elliptical, have a semi-major axis of 42,164 km (26,199 mi). In fact, orbits with the same period always share the same semi-major axis:

where a is the semi-major axis, P is the orbital period, and μ is the geocentric gravitational constant, equal to approximately 398600.4418 km3/s2.

In the special case of a geostationary orbit, the ground track of a satellite is a single point on the equator. In the general case of a geosynchronous orbit with a non-zero inclination or eccentricity, the ground track is a more or less distorted figure-eight, returning to the same places once per sidereal day.