Satellite constellationA satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global coverage, such that at any time everywhere on Earth at least one satellite is visible. Satellites are typically placed in sets of complementary orbital planes and connect to globally distributed ground stations. They may also use inter-satellite communication.
High Earth orbitA high Earth orbit is a geocentric orbit with an apogee farther than that of the geosynchronous orbit, which is 35,786 km (22,236 mi) away from Earth. In this article, the non-standard abbreviation of HEO is used for high Earth orbit. The development of HEO technology has had a significant impact on space exploration and has paved the way for future missions to deep space.
SES (company)SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish communications satellite operator supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. SES owns and operates over 70 satellites in two different orbits: geostationary orbit (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO).
Low Earth orbitA low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, peaking in number at an altitude around 800 km (500 mi), while the farthest in LEO, before medium Earth orbit (MEO), have an altitude of 2,000 kilometers, about one-third of the radius of Earth and near the beginning of the inner Van Allen radiation belt.
O3b mPOWERO3b mPOWER is a communications satellite system owned and operated by the Luxembourgish company SES. The system uses high-throughput and low-latency satellites in a medium Earth orbit (MEO), along with ground infrastructure and intelligent software, to provide multiple terabits of global broadband connectivity for applications including cellular backhaul and international IP trunking, cruise line connectivity, disaster recovery, and military communications.
O3bO3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit (MEO) owned and operated by SES, and designed to provide lower-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, aviation, and government and defence. It is often referred to as O3b MEO to distinguish these satellites from SES's O3b mPOWER constellation.
Geosynchronous orbitA geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on Earth's surface, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day.
Orbital periodThe orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets, exoplanets orbiting other stars, or binary stars. It may also refer to the time it takes a satellite orbiting a planet or moon to complete one orbit.
Latency (engineering)Latency, from a general point of view, is a time delay between the cause and the effect of some physical change in the system being observed. Lag, as it is known in gaming circles, refers to the latency between the input to a simulation and the visual or auditory response, often occurring because of network delay in online games.Geocentric orbitA geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit, or Earth orbit involves any object orbitingEarth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997, NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center. More than 16,291 objects previously launched have undergone orbital decay and enteredEarth's atmosphere.
Van Allen radiation beltThe Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energeticcharged particles, most of which originate from solar wind, that are captured and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The belts are named after James Van Allen, who published an article describing the belts in 1958.
AlbedoAlbedo ( ; from Latin albedo'whiteness') is the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects all incident radiation). Surface albedo is defined as the ratio of radiosityJe to the irradianceEe (flux per unit area) received by a surface.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.