Apogee kick motor Apogee kick motor An apogee kick motor (AKM) refers to a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites to provide the final impulse to change the trajectory from the transfer orbit into its final (most commonly circular) orbit. For a satellite launched from the Earth, the rocket firing is done at the highest point of the transfer orbit, known as the apogee, thus giving the engine its name. An apogee kick motor is used, for example, for satellites launched into a geostationary orbit. As the vast majority of geostationary satellite launches are carried out from spaceports at a
Liquid apogee engine for a range of other manoeuvres, such as end-of-life deorbit, Earth orbit escape, planetary orbit insertion and planetary descent/ascent. In some parts of the space industry an LAE is also referred to as a liquid apogee motor (LAM), a liquid apogee thruster (LAT) and, depending on the propellant, a dual-mode liquid apogee thruster (DMLAT). Despite the ambiguity with respect to the use of "engine" and "motor" in these names, all use liquid propellant. An apogee kick motor (AKM) or apogee boost motor (ABM) such as the Waxwing, however, uses solid propellant. These solid-propellant versions are not used on new-generation satellites.