📘 Definition
Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) spans altitudes from approximately 2,000 km to just below the geostationary belt at 35,786 km. Navigation constellations dominate MEO: GPS (~20,200 km), Galileo (~23,222 km), GLONASS (~19,100 km), and BeiDou (~21,528 km). The higher altitude provides each satellite with a larger footprint, so fewer satellites are needed for global coverage than in LEO. Orbital periods range from about 2 to 24 hours.