A synchronous satellite has a high, fixed vantage point from which it can look down continuously on a large portion of Earth. That makes stationary satellites ideal for pinpoint broadcasting and for monitoring continent-wide weather patterns and environmental conditions. Clarke Belt Scores of communications and weather satellites, operated by many countries and international organizations, occupy positions assigned to every nation in the Clarke Belt. Many popular television satellites, sending programs to backyard dish antennas, are in stationary orbits. The U.S. communications satellite Syncom-3 was the first launched successfully to stationary orbit.
Different satellites fly around Earth on different orbital paths.
Polar-orbiting satellites provide a more global view of Earth. Polar satellites look down on Earth's entire surface, passing above the North and South Poles several times a day. As the satellite loops around the globe, Earth seems to rotate under the orbit. Equatorial and polar satellites mostly fly at low altitudes between 100 and 1,000 miles. To an observer on the ground, they seem to climb up from the horizon, pass overhead, and fall below the horizon several times a day.