--- description: Find out why Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO is one of the best inventions of 2024 title: Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte027cda5691a86fc/698a8a4be6e84ac08a2b8127/smallsat-geo-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2024 # Compact Satellites by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Designed for the defense and commercial sectors, Terran Orbital’s Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO) satellites—ones that always appear stationary above the same point on the earth’s surface—are compactly designed and up to 15 times cheaper than traditional, large GEO missions. Earlier this year, the company was awarded [a $15.2 million contract](https://terranorbital.com/terran-orbital-awarded-a-15-2-million-contract-from-the-us-space-force/ "undefined") from the U.S. Space Force for other satellite tech. Learn More at [Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO](https://terranorbital.com/smallsat-geo/ "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7095058/terran-orbital-smallsat-geo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7095058/terran-orbital-smallsat-geo/"},"headline":"Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024","datePublished":"2024-10-30T11:32:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:38.166Z","description":"Find out why Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO is one of the best inventions of 2024","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7095058/terran-orbital-smallsat-geo/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte027cda5691a86fc/698a8a4be6e84ac08a2b8127/smallsat-geo-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte027cda5691a86fc/698a8a4be6e84ac08a2b8127/smallsat-geo-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7095058/terran-orbital-smallsat-geo/","name":"Terran Orbital SmallSat GEO: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024"}}]}] ```