Communications satellite of a GEO satellite. Like LEOs, these satellites don’t maintain a stationary distance from the earth. This is in contrast to the geostationary orbit, where satellites are always approximately from the earth. Typically the orbit of a medium earth orbit satellite is about above earth. In various patterns, these satellites make the trip around earth in anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. In 1962, the first communications satellite, Telstar, was launched. It was a medium earth orbit satellite designed to help facilitate high-speed telephone signals. Although it was the first practical way to transmit signals over the horizon, its major
British Satellite Broadcasting the Astra operator, had no regulatory permission to broadcast, had plans (initially) for only one satellite with no backup, and the European satellite launch vehicle "Ariane" suffered repeated failures. However, SES used the resulting delay time to re-engineer the satellite to reduce the dish size needed, which would otherwise have been larger than 60 cm (24"). To distance itself from Sky and its dish antennas, BSB announced a new type of flat-plate satellite antenna called a "squarial" (i.e., "square aerial"). The illustrative model shown to the press was a dummy and BSB commissioned a working version which was under 45