Stationary orbit, or geostationary orbit, was a type of synchronous orbit over a planetary body where the orbit was directly over the equator. This type of orbit also fell under the classification of a equatorial or circular orbit. At the vantage point from the surface of the planetary body's equator, the orbiting object appeared to be fixed in the sky overhead, therefore giving the additional alternate term, fixed orbit. Objects in orbit of Earth could only achieve geostationary orbit at an altitude of 35,786 kilometers (22,236 miles).
In 2154, despite being ordered to leave orbit of Vulcan, Enterprise NX-01 remained in a stationary position over Vulcan's Forge, as Commander Trip Tucker sought out Captain Jonathan Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol who were on the surface below. (ENT: "Awakening")
In 2161, Captain Archer had Enterprise "move into a stationary orbit" over Rigel X, following a detour there on the crew's final journey back to Earth. (ENT: "These Are the Voyages...")
In 2257, during the Federation-Klingon War, USS Discovery was placed into geostationary orbit, at approximately 800 kilometers, above the surface of Delta 2 where it was then terraformed with Prototaxites stellaviatori so as to provide a new source of mycelium spores for its spore drive. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")
During the arrival of the USS Enterprise to Miri, in 2266, Captain James T. Kirk had Mister Spock "hold us in a fixed orbit" above the planet. (TOS: "Miri")
Upon arrival at the planet Angel I, the USS Enterprise-D entered a fixed orbit, as it prepared to contact the natives about the missing ship Odin. When they determined the crew could be found if they scanned the planet surface for traces of platinum, Captain Jean-Luc Picard had the ship "break fixed orbit and initiate a search pattern." (TNG: "Angel One")
While interfacing through a interface probe aboard the USS Raman, Geordi La Forge took the ship down into a low stationary orbit within the lower atmosphere of the gas giant Marijne VII, in order to initiate an inverse warp cascade, while under the belief that it was the location of the USS Hera, when in fact it was the home of the subspace beings that lived there. Initially, the Raman had descended to that altitude to collect samples of the planet's atmosphere, before rising 11,000 kilometers where it became stranded following the death of its crew. (TNG: "Interface")
| Orbits |
|---|
| Circular orbit • Decaying orbit • Elliptical orbit • Equatorial orbit • High orbit • Low orbit • Polar orbit • Standard orbit • Stationary orbit • Sub-orbit • Synchronous orbit |
| Lagrange point • Tidal locking |