A term used to describe the orbital altitude range (500 to 2000 km above the surface of the Earth) of certain communications satellites. Note 1: Generally, LEO satellites are part of constellations of satellites that achieve wide coverage of the Earth's surface with lower power requirements and shorter propagation delays than can be achieved with, e.g. Geostationary orbit satellites, or MEO satellites. Note 2: LEO satellites may have equatorial or polar paths. Note 3: Two LEO groups have emerged: Little LEO for data-communications satellites and Big LEO for data-and-voice communications, each using preassigned frequency ranges. Classification Orbital Altitude (km above the Earth) LEO 500-2,000 MEO 8,000-20,000 Geostationary orbit 35,786