Infrastructure
Communications Satellites
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…
2009 – Communications Satellites Overview
The concept of the communications satellite actually predates the Space Age. In 1945, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke proposed the concept of “extraterrestrial relays” in GEO in an article…
2010 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Satellite Design Activities
Fixed satellite telecommunications are a reliable, proven technology, but not completely free of risk. Satellites must be designed to survive challenges from the hostile environment of space, such as solar…
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 – MSS Satellite Design Activities
The global MSS market is dominated by two players: the UK’s Inmarsat and U.S.-based Iridium. They accounted for 55% and 25% of the market, respectively.[efn_note]Wei Li. “Beam... Growth On The…
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…
2010 – Communications Satellites Overview
Satellite communications are perhaps the most ubiquitous example of human utilization of space, and they have been a crucial part of the global telecommunications infrastructure for decades. They bridge the…
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 – MSS Satellite Design Activities
Total MSS revenues in 2010 reached $1.38 billion, an 8.8% increase over the previous year, and are expected to exceed $2.2 billion by 2020.[efn_note]“Euroconsult Report Forecasts 7% Annual Increase in…
2011 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Satellite Design Activities
Note: This exhibit is from The Space Report 2012.In 2010 and 2011, several highly specialized satellites that utilize a relatively underused frequency range, called the Ka-band, were placed into orbit…