An
apogee kick motor (AKM) refers to a rocket motor that is regularly employed on
artificial satellites destined for a
geostationary orbit. As the vast majority of geostationary satellite launches are carried out from
spaceports at a significant distance away from Earth's
equator, the carrier rocket would only be able to launch the satellite into an elliptical orbit of maximum
apogee 35,786-kilometres and with a non-zero inclination approximately equal to the
latitude of the launch site. This orbit is commonly known as a "
geostationary transfer orbit" or a "
geosynchronous transfer orbit". The satellite must then provide thrust to bring forth the needed
delta v to reach a geostationary orbit. This is typically done with a fixed onboard apogee kick motor. When the satellite reaches its orbit's apogee position, the AKM is ignited, transforming the elliptical orbit into a circular orbit, while at the same time bringing the inclination to around zero degrees, thereby accomplishing the insertion into a geostationary orbit. This process is called an "apogee kick".