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Low Earth orbit
Definition
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) refers to the region of space around Earth that encompasses altitudes from approximately 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) to 2,000 kilometers (approximately 1,200 miles) above the planet's surface.
It is characterized by its proximity to Earth compared to other orbital regimes, such as Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) or Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO).
Objects in LEO travel at high speeds of around 28,000 kilometers per hour (about 17,500 miles per hour), completing an orbit around the Earth in about 90 to 120 minutes.
This orbital regime is heavily utilized for a variety of purposes, including communication, Earth observation, and scientific research.
Due to the lower altitude, LEO allows for shorter signal transmission times, making it advantageous for real-time data applications, such as telecommunication and internet services.
However, it is also the region most affected by space congestion and debris, making monitoring and management crucial to ensure the safety and sustainability of operations in this region.
LEO is the orbit of choice for most satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), and is a starting point for missions to higher orbits and beyond.
Why LEO requires continuous, accurate tracking
Low Earth orbit is the busiest orbital regime, where high satellite densities, frequent launches, and short orbital periods drive fast-changing conjunction geometries.
Because objects move quickly and revisit over ground stations every ~90–120 minutes, operators need timely, accurate tracking updates to reduce uncertainty, maintain reliable screening, and coordinate maneuvers without unnecessary fuel expenditure or service disruption.
LEO is also the most impacted by fragmentation debris and operational interference risks; sustaining safe operations requires continuous monitoring, rapid detection of new objects or orbit changes, and consistent data to support collision avoidance, fleet resilience, and long-term space sustainability.
Look Up solutions for space situational awareness and collision avoidance in LEO
Look Up supports safer, scalable LEO operations by detecting and tracking objects down to a few cm with centimetric accuracy using SORASYS, its ground-based sensor network, enabling high-reactivity updates when the LEO environment changes.
Through SYNAPSE, its digital platform for Space Situational Awareness, Look Up fuses its own sensor data with external sources to catalogue objects, produce comprehensive object ID cards, and deliver low-latency alerts and operational insights via API or interface, including on-premises deployment for secure operations.
For collision risk management in LEO, Look Up provides collision avoidance support, issuing warnings and delivering tailored maneuver recommendations aligned with mission constraints, backed by collision avoidance predictions with a 99.9% accuracy rate, as well as analytics such as orbital manoeuvres detection to help operators protect assets and coordinate at constellation scale.
We deliver space situational awareness (SSA) and space domain awareness (SDA) solutions that help secure active satellites and ensure safe operations in the ever-growing expanse of space.