Questions tagged [communication-satellite]
Questions about satellites designed to aid in communications, such as phone, TV and Internet satellites.
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How to get a decommissioned geostationary telecom satellite for r&d project and tow it to lunar orbit?
Though unlikely to be practical, would it be at all possible to buy an older, used geostationary telecom satellite and move it to an orbit around the Moon?
What are the challenges to the move itself?
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1answer
55 views
UHF transceiver for cubesats network
I already asked things related to this topic. But this time I will try to divide it by points to make it more understandable.
Features of my cubesats:
Would have 8 cubesats 3U in Earth's orbit
The ...
3
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1answer
82 views
How do I calculate what antenna I need for my cubesat?
If I want to make a communication satellite, like MarCO, what formulas do I need to calculate the perfect antenna? Is there a difference between the X-Band and the classic UHF? If the cubesat is ...
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57 views
Where can I find data on satellite orbits?
I'm an enthusiast who'd like access to satellite orbital data to simulate / plot trajectories of manmade satellites (of any kind) on my home computer. Where's the best place for me to find this kind ...
3
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1answer
84 views
Will Optical communications be possible between Columbus' Ka-band (COLKa) Terminal at the ISS and EDRS?
The BBC's British radio antenna to arrive at space station says:
The new fridge-sized terminal will route video, voice and data to the ground through satellites that are actually higher in the sky ...
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27 views
Which regulatory agencies involved in approving GMDSS providers are staffed with people from Inmarsat?
NASA Spaceflight's Iridium marks major milestone with maritime safety, breaks monopoly says:
Since its implementation, Inmarsat has held a monopoly over the GMDSS.
But that has now changed.
...
3
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2answers
128 views
Why do orbits in the Iridium constellation have an inclination of 86.4°?
Wikipedia's Iridium_satellite constellation; In-orbit spares says that Iridium satellites have an inclination of 86.4°:
Significant orbital inclination changes are normally very fuel-intensive, but ...
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217 views
How to see Iridium Flares (if possible) in 2020 and beyond?
On December 27th, 2019, Iridium 97 burned up in the atmosphere and there was a "#Flarewell" celebration. However, according to this website which seems to be VERY detailed, there are still 5 ...
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132 views
Can communication satellite carry payload other than it's own boards?
Can we attach payload to communication satellite and detach it in space after having gained a specific altitude? What is probability that it will fail?
4
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1answer
141 views
Has FCC jurisdiction for all the world for SpaceX's Starlink position?
These days, you can read in the news that SpaceX requested FCC for permission to change the orbit of the Starlink satellites already in orbit.
Now... from my understanding, the Starlink satellites ...
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1answer
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Will Curiosity and the Mars 2020 rover be able to communicate with each other via a Mars orbiter?
Curiosity's UHF antenna on sol 2439
Could Curiosity and the Mars 2020 rover communicate with each other via the MRO orbiter ?
And would it have advantages ? (Like: " I just saw a meteorite, and it'...
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Satellite Launch Aprroval: what is the role of ITU, FCC, and other international standards / regulators?
Seeking confirmation for the following assumption:
Satellites used for non-communication applications (military surveillance, weather monitoring etc.) are launched without specific prior approval from ...
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1answer
202 views
How has the brightness of SpaceX's Starlink constellation changed since May?
Shortly after the launch, before full orientation of the solar panels and raising of the orbits, the Starlink satellites were surprisingly bright and easily seen with the naked eye.
Back then, I heard ...
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1answer
70 views
Point Ahead Angle Calculation between LEO-GEO Satellite (ISL Scenario)
So, I have got two reference TLE from 2 different Satellite in LEO-GEO, which are as follows: (1st TLE for LEO, 2nd TLE for GEO)
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Velocity Vector Transformation for Point Ahead Angle and Doppler Shift Calculation for Inter-Satellite Link
So, I have the Radial and Tangential Velocity Vector (like in Figure 1) and also the Cartesian coordinate of 3D velocity vector. For reference, you can see in this link. Where, $o_{dot}$ vector matrix ...
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152 views
Point Ahead Angle and Doppler Shift Frequency Changes Calculation with the tangential/radial velocity component for Inter-Satellite Link
While calculating the Point Ahead Angle we work with Tangential Velocity vector component and to calculate the Doppler shift i.e changes in frequencies, we work with Radial Velocity Vector component.
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Does Surrey Satellite's Pathfinder lunar communications relay have customers lined up, or is it “If you build it, they will come”?
After about 24:00 in the BBC podcast Do We Need More Space Stations? BBC reporter Marnie Chesterton talks with Charles Cranston, the project manager for lunar ...
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1answer
298 views
How were the 100+ antennas around Telstar 1 and 2 configured?
Telstar 1 and 2 demonstrated routing of telephone, television and other communications types between continents.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum pages below contain images of the satellites. ...
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86 views
When did they stop routing long-distance phone calls through satellites? What was the maximum volume at its peak?
I have read that in the early 1960's Telstar 1 and 2 were the first satellites to route long distance telephone calls.
I seem to remember that long, long ago, long distance (overseas?) phone calls ...
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1answer
97 views
Understanding line of sight between two satellite with oblate Earth using “scaling k-component”
I have been doing some reading on accuracy of determining line-of-sight between two satellites give a WGS84 oblate earth. The paper Rapid Determination of Satellite Visibility Periods (Alfano, Negron ...
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2answers
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How does a Hall effect ion thruster have a sea-level Isp of 800? Operates at 1 atmosphere?
Astronatix's SPT-100 lists the following:
Stechkin electric rocket engine. Used on Meteor and Gals satellites.
In Production. 1.35 kW Hall thruster.
Thrust variable 2 to 20 kgf.
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How does a “hybrid orbital raising system” based on R-4D (N2O4/MMH) + SPT-100 (Hall effect) work exactly? (Intelsat 38 & 39)
Astronatix's Intelsat 39 lists the two engines
SPT-100 Stechkin 1.35 kW Hall thruster.
R-4D Marquardt N2O4/MMH rocket engine. 490 N.
Question: Why is this combination on Intelsat 39 called "hybrid" ...
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2answers
301 views
Why do these satellite antennas look so weird? (strangely shaped with little white dots…)
The NASA Spaceflight article Arianespace press onward with dual-passenger Ariane 5 launch shows a photo of Intelsat 39 during testing. The dish reflectors are strangely shaped:
rather than being ...
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1answer
44 views
Video standard used on Intelsat 1 (Early Bird)
I was watching a documentary on Intelsat 1 (also known as Early Bird) and some of the first live television sent over it.
Was there any particular video format or modulation used, special for the ...
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1answer
118 views
Impact of having two antennas on link budget calculations
I'm working on link budget of a cubesat mission that needs to have two dipole antennas that are perpendicular to each other. I want to know if having two antennas affect the link budget? losses, and ...
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81 views
What is a “critical mass” equivalent of number of satellites on LEO that would initiate chain reaction of destruction if 2 of them collide?
If a satellite is destroyed and blown to multiple small pieces of debris, each one of these pieces has tiny probability of destroying another satellite, creating more debris which now will have even ...
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38 views
Relation between beamwidths of E-plane and H-plane
Is there any relation between E-plane and H-plane beamwidths of an antenna when steering in azimuth and elevation directions?
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1answer
51 views
Data Rates and Radios with Satellites [closed]
I am new to using radios and was wondering why do data rates matter when you use a radio to pull info from somewhere else. Also what does it mean when a satellite sends a wide band signal. Thank you ...
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2answers
421 views
What is meant by “a high-energy geostationary orbit”? (SpaceX Arabsat 6A)
The Teslarati article SpaceX’s April 7th Falcon Heavy launch a step toward new commercial markets says:
While there is some inherent uncertainty surrounding the (once again) fairly new rocket, ...
3
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1answer
432 views
What is OneWeb's constellation's “progressive pitch” and how does it avoid interference with Ku-band satellites in GEO everywhere on Earth?
The Wikipedia article section OneWeb satellite constellation; Design characteristics tells us:
The satellites will operate in the Ku band, communicating in the microwave range of frequencies in the ...
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1answer
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What is considered a good SNR for satellites?
When performing a link budget for satellite communications, a key component is defining an acceptable signal-to-noise-ratio in order to obtain the necessary bit-rate. How does one determine what the ...
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How much of the piggybacked Aireon system rely on its Iridium Next hosts?
The NBC News article Next-generation satellites gave federal officials key data in Boeing 737 Max investigation says:
The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, grounded Boeing's 737 Max ...
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1answer
239 views
How do Inmarsat 5 F4's beams correspond to all of these antennas and feeds?
note: This is an old-style @uhoh question meaning that it is a bit on the long side. In this case I think it really needs to be since the question is a bit complex; I'm trying to understand how all ...
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1answer
141 views
What is the lowest power signal that the DSN can detect?
It is said that the Deep Space Network can detect low-power signals sent from Voyager in the range of 10^-16 W. I can't seem to find any sources that indicate what the minimum power requirement of a ...
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182 views
Have the Starlink precursor Tintin satellites been talking to each other? If so, how?
Tintin A and B are the first two exploratory and testing spacecraft for SpaceX's Starlink program.
It looks like they are in very similar orbits in both space and time, and are probably that way so ...
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1answer
292 views
Is it possible to capture geostationary satellites with DSLR?
DSLR is to be mounted on a tripod and pointed at sky with a zoom lens.
Would a sufficiently long duration of exposure reveal these non-moving satellites as bright "stars" amongst the streaks caused ...
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2answers
516 views
How to lease a transponder on a GEO satellite?
I have an interesting question. I was thinking about it a year ago when the es'Hailsat 2 was not launched.
There was an organization called "Outernet" that promissed to broadcast files (including ham ...
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2answers
337 views
What is a satellite trap?
I keep hearing about satellite traps, which have something to do with receiving and transmitting satellite communications, but I can't seem to find a definition.
The securityaffairs.co blogpost Hack ...
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1answer
272 views
How often does a geostationary satellite enter into a Lunar shadow?
Is there a chance for the many geostationary satellites to enter into the moon’s shadow?
If so, how frequently do such eclipses happen and how long do they typically last?
Are such eclipses pre-...
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1answer
2k views
What is carrier lock and bit lock?
I'm not sure if this question belongs here or in Amateur Radio, but during the acquisition of signal from New Horizons on New Year's Day, I heard the controllers call out "carrier lock", "symbol lock",...
3
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1answer
149 views
Satellites around outer planets that act like amplifier to signals from voyager like objects
One issue of deep space exploration is that once the object (like Voyager) is far out in the solar system the physical distance is so great that the signal reaching Earth is very weak. I was wondering ...
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2answers
83 views
How close will the cubesats be when numerous of them are launched simultaneously?
Checking the onboard video of PSLV C43 gives a feel like the CubeSats are released in very proximity.
Does this mean that these CubeSats will be orbiting in such very close proximity through out ...
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1answer
877 views
How low is VLEO? (FCC's newest approval for SpaceX)
Engaget's SpaceX gets FCC approval to deploy thousands more internet satellites says
SpaceX's plan to build a global, high-speed wireless internet network using satellites has taken another step ...
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0answers
570 views
What technology will SpaceX's StarLink satellites most likely use for sat-to-sat linking?
The question How does SpaceX plan to make money with StarLink Broadband? has got me thinking about how the satellites will link to each other.
Wikipedia says it's something greater than 10,000 GHz ...
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2answers
684 views
How does SpaceX plan to make money with StarLink Broadband?
To me, it seems obvious that ground based optical fibres will be cheaper than a space based system by an order of magnitude. So unless say, everyone starts sea-steading and a space based broadband is ...
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1answer
200 views
What prevents all these man-made objects flying in space from colliding with each other?
Does NASA know the location of every object in orbit and they calculate satellite and shuttle launches around not hitting these objects or are they just rolling the dice that the probability of ...
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1answer
220 views
Given a working satellite, would it be possible to build a homemade transmitter/receiver?
Given existing low-orbit and geo-synchronous satellites, would it be possible to build a device that could send a signal to a satellite and then have that signal received on another device? ...
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4answers
10k views
Does the International Space Station get TV?
For obvious reasons the ISS cannot get cable TV. Can the ISS get the new digital air TV or satellite TV using an issued dish and receiver like a house? How would that be done compared to how it is ...
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How did Syncom-3 achieve eight stages of frequency doubling? I only see seven in the block diagram
@BlueCoder's nice answer to Syncom-3 was the first geostationary satellite. Anyone know of a description of the onboard electronics? mentions that the the master oscillator was doubled eight times to ...
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1answer
91 views
Syncom-3 was the first geostationary satellite. Anyone know of a description of the onboard electronics?
I am interested in any description of the electronics on Syncom-3, the first geostationary satellite. I've been able to find quite a bit of general information. There was a pair of 2 Watt TWTs and ...
