Geostationary Orbit

Satellites in GEO travel on an equatorial path in the same direction of the Earth’s rotation, consistently remaining above the same location on Earth in a perceived ‘stationary’ position.30 This unique position is essential for many telecommunications, broadcasting, and weather satellites, which are often required to travel in orbit directly over a receiving station.31 Moreover, satellites in GEO can access around onethird of the Earth’s surface area, allowing very high radio frequencies emitted from one location on Earth to be received by a satellite and transmitted to another location on Earth.32

There are other types of orbits, (see box on right) but the focus of this report remains on GEO. Half of all satellites are positioned in GEO. 33 These orbital slots are in high demand for a variety of purposes set out by the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), not limited to: communications, meteorology, Earth resources and environment, navigation and aircraft control, testing of new systems, astronomy, and data relay.34

Positions in GEO are highly sought, but allocation is “first come, first served”.35 Under the current system relating to orbital slots, established spacefarers are

Types of orbits

Low Earth Orbit (LEO): The orbit closest to Earth at 500 km – 1,200 km above the surface.36 LEO is utilized for communication and remote sensing. Medium Earth Orbit (MEO): A range of orbits up to an altitude of 20,000 km. These locations are often used for navigation, including GPS. Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO): Positions matching the Earth’s rotation with a consistent longitudinal location over Earth. Geostationary Orbit (GEO): A type of GSO with a constant position over the Equator and 36,000 km above the surface. Both GSO and GEO are used for telecommunications and Earth observation. Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO): A highly elliptical orbit with one end nearer the Earth and the other end further from the surface. These positions are often used for hybrid systems. Polar Orbit: This orbit is within 30 degrees of the North and South poles, which is useful for weather tracking and Earth monitoring.37

30 Balleste, Roy (2020) Space Horizons: An Era of Hope in the Geostationary Orbit. Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation 35(165), 165-192. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/25373/JELL35_Balleste.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 31 Agama, Ferdinand Onwe (2017) Effects of the Bogota Declaration on the Legal Status of Geostationary orbit in international Space Law. NAUJILI 8(1). https://www.ajol.info/index.php/naujilj/article/view/156705 32 Balleste (2020). 33 Ibid. 34 Agama (2017). 35 Giacomin, Nicolas (2019) The Bogota Declaration and Space Law. Space Legal Issues. https://www.spacelegalissues.com/thebogota-declaration-and-space-law/ 36 Via Satellite (2022) GEO, MEO and LEO: How Orbital altitude impacts network performance in satellite data services. https://www.satellitetoday.com/content-collection/ses-hub-geo-meo-and-leo/ 37 Space Foundation (2022) Space Briefing Book: Types of Orbit. https://www.spacefoundation.org/space_brief/types-of-orbits/

incentivized to fill up the limited (c.a. 1,800) GEO spaces. However, many developing countries and non-spacefaring countries lack the resources to take advantage of this system in the near term. 38 The economic incentives of accessing GEO are a significant driver of the current space race among private and government actors.39 More private companies are performing space activities that have historically resided within the exclusive domain of states. This is challenging the traditional understanding of the prohibition on territorial sovereignty in outer space.40 There is a growing need for clarification in international law, particularly considering several countries’ goals for future resource extraction in space.

In its preamble to the Radio Regulations, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations, designated GEO and associated radio frequencies as “limited natural resources”, urging Member States to use them “rationally, efficiently and economically, in conformity with the provisions of the Radio Regulations” to allow equitable access and “taking into account the special needs of the developing countries and the geographical situation of particular countries”.41 The ITU has attempted to address inequities by granting frequencies to smaller nations, but efforts have remained limited, or even resulted in unintended outcomes as countries lease and rent granted orbital slots to foreign satellite companies. The oft-cited case of Tonga in 1991 saw the national satellite company offer six of these spaces to companies in other countries.42

When the major international treaties on outer space were drafted, parties did not anticipate the extent of private enterprise in space today.43 The commercialization of satellite manufacture and the falling costs of launch and operation is enabling a growing number of countries to enter space. However, the major space nations, including the United States, Russia and China, have a considerable advantage over emerging spacefaring countries, developing economies and those with no space infrastructure.

This chapter of the report focuses on access to GEO. Though there are other orbital positions for satellites to choose from, GSO and GEO are particularly important for telecommunications and Earth observation, and these slots are highly limited. The majority of the reviewed literature focuses on GEO, as the rapid depletion of spaces has generated significant legal debate. This includes discussion of the Bogotá Declaration of 1976, which saw several Equatorial countries seek sovereignty over slots in GEO above their territories (see section below).

38 Howell, Elizabeth (2015) What is a Geosynchronous Orbit? Space.com https://www.space.com/29222-geosynchronous-orbit.html 39 Ferreira-Snyman, A (2021) Challenges to the Prohibition on Sovereignty in Outer Space - A New Frontier for Space Governance. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 24(1) http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1727-37812021000100008 40 Ibid. 41 ITU (2022) ITU Radio Regulatory Framework for Space Services. Accessible: https://www.itu.int/en/ITUR/space/snl/Documents/ITU-Space_reg.pdf 42 Thornburg (2018); Chaturvedi, Shivangi (2021) Rights in Orbital Slots: Analysis of Tonga Incident. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 10(1), 1-10. 43 Ferreira-Snyman (2021).