Communications Satellites
Orbits
2005 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities
Satellites also provide mobile telephony services. Satellite mobile telephony enables regional to near-global coverage depending on the satellite or constellation, using handsets that communicate directly with a satellite. Mobile satellite…
2005 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities
Satellites have provided trunking for long-distance telephone service for decades. Most long-distance traffic is now routed over cable, avoiding the lag and other reductions in quality (such as echo) associated…
2008 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities
While FSS systems all operate in GEO, mobile satellite service (MSS) systems operate in a range of orbits. Some MSS operators have built their networks using a limited number of…
2008 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities
GEO satellites provide coverage of a wide area from a relatively fixed position, making them ideal for broadcast applications to multiple downlink sites, as well as for networking services to…
2009 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities
Mobile satellite services (MSS) providers connect phones and other handheld devices directly to satellites to provide near-constant coverage, even in African villages, Antarctic bases, offshore oil rigs, and other remote…
2009 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities
GEO satellites provide a wide fixed coverage area, making them ideal for reaching a community of stationary antennas that do not need to track a moving object in space. The…
2010 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities
The dominant providers of international fixed satellite services (FSS) are Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat. These four companies collectively own nearly half of all GEO commercial communications satellites (## satellites,…
2010 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities
Mobile satellite services (MSS) providers enable users to connect phones and other handheld devices directly to a satellite to provide near-constant coverage, even in places underserved by terrestrial facilities, such…
2011 – Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Space Activities
Iridium’s LEO constellation of ## active and ## spare satellites relay signals to each other directly, unlike other systems that require multiple hops between space and the ground to send…
2011 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities
GEO satellites provide a wide fixed coverage area, making them ideal for sending one signal to a large number of stationary antennas. There were ## fixed satellite services (FSS) satellites…