Geostationary satellite view coverage maps

These geostationary satellite view maps are intended for communication satellite design purposes. Consider your required coverage areas (country or countries) and available orbital positions.

I assume you will build a satellite with a fixed or steerable, circular spot beam. Choose a suitable map and then draw a circle round your required coverage area.

View of the earth from geostationary height above the equator at 0 deg longitude
Example geostationary satellite map.
View of the earth as seen from a satellite above the equator at 0 deg longitude.
Diameter of the earth as seen from the satellite = 17 degrees.

Measure the diameter of the circle and relate it to the 17 deg diameter of the earth. This gives you the diameter of your coverage beam. It is normal, for a simple spot beam, to have a coverage area extending to the -4 dB contour of your beam. From that and the operating frequency, work backwards to find the gain of the beam and the size of spacecraft antennas required for uplink and downlink. This antenna beamwidth calculator will help.

New May 2020: I have made a new web page which draws larger higher resolution world maps with geostationary satellite elevation contour lines. This page allows you to choose your wanted orbit position and then, once the map is draw you may copy the image.

The links below go to pages with multiple small, low resolution, images.

Geostationary orbit views from 0 to 50 deg east longitude (Europe, Africa)

Geostationary orbit views from 60 to 110 deg east longitude (Indian Ocean Region)

Geostationary orbit views from 120 to 170 deg east longitude (Asia, Pacific Ocean Region)

Geostationary orbit views from 10 to 60 deg west longitude (Atlantic Ocean Region)

Geostationary orbit views from 70 to 120 deg west longitude (America)

Geostationary orbit views from 130 to 180 deg west longitude (Pacific Ocean Region)

Note all satellite coverage maps are as viewed from above the equator (latitude = zero, height = 35768 km)

Example of satellite beam coverages drawn from 97 deg west This page shows satellite beam contours plotted onto the view from the satellite.

► Page created 4 Oct 2005, amended 2 March 2022.