apogee kick motor

A solid rocket motor, usually permanently attached to a spacecraft, which circularizes an elliptical transfer orbit by igniting at apogee (leading to the colloquial phrase "a kick in the apogee"). First used on the early Syncom satellites in 1963–64 to "kick" the satellite from a geostationary transfer orbit to a geostationary orbit. Also known simply as an apogee motor.