Satellites in geostationary orbit

Station keeping

The inclination of the orbital plane on the equator directly measures the operating state of a geostationary satellite. While in service, its thrusters correct the drift imposed by lunar and solar attraction and hold it below a tenth of a degree. As soon as those corrections stop, the plane drifts by about eight tenths of a degree a year, and inclination becomes a clock.

Main families

The public catalogue carries no operator field. This grouping is therefore deduced from the first word of each object's name, following the convention that the family precedes the rank, as in INTELSAT 39 or EUTELSAT 7C. It is a naming deduction, not ownership data, and families of fewer than three objects are absent.

By launch decade

The launch year is read from each object's international designator, which begins with it. 567 objects out of 567 carry one; the others are absent from this table.

The latest arrivals

The most recently launched objects in the belt. The period is that of a full revolution: a sidereal day is 1,436.1 minutes, and an object departing from it drifts in longitude instead of staying above the same point.

Graveyard orbits

The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee requires that a geostationary satellite at end of life be raised at least 235 kilometres above the belt, to release for good the longitude slot it occupied. 7 objects in the reading have a perigee beyond that threshold, that is 1.2% of the belt.

Source and method