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
LARES (satellite) LARES (satellite) LARES (acronym for Laser Relativity Satellite) (COSPAR ID 2012-006A) is an Italian Space Agency scientific satellite launched from the ESA Guiana Space Centre of Kourou, French Guiana, by the maiden flight of the European launch vehicle Vega on 13 February 2012. An improved version called LARES 2 is scheduled for launch in late 2019, on the maiden flight of Vega-C. The "LARES" satellite is the densest known object orbiting in the Solar System. The satellite, completely passive, is made of tungsten alloy and houses 92 cube corner retroreflectors that are used to track the satellite via laser from