Expound/Explain the following:

I. Satellite

● Astronomical terms is an object in space that revolves around a planet.

● In Aerospace terms, a satellite is a spacecraft that is launched by humans and orbits the planet or some other
celestial body.
● Communications satellites are man-made satellites that orbit the Earth and perform a variety of communication tasks
for a wide range of users, including military, governmental, private, and commercial clients.
● Communications satellite is a microwave repeater in the sky that consists of a diverse combination of one or more of
the following: receiver, transmitter, am plifier, regenerator, filter, onboard computer, multiplexer, demultiplexer,
antenna, waveguide, and about any other electronic communications circuit ever developed.
II. Orbits

● An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one
III. Footprint

● The geographical representation of a satellite antenna’s radiation pattern.

● The footprints move across Earth’s surface, and subscriber signals are switched from one beam to the next or from
one satellite to the next in a handoff process.
IV. GPS

● Global Positioning System

● It can pinpoint a three dimensional position to meter-level accuracy and time to the 10-nanosecond level, worldwide
and 24/7
● GPS is comprised of three different segments: the space segment, control segment and user segment.
● its origins in the Sputnik era when scientists were able to track the satellite with shifts in its radio signal, known as the
“Doppler Effect,” which became the foundational idea for modern GPS.
V. Categories of Satellite

a. Low Earth Orbit

i. Orbital Height

- 500 and 2000 km

ii. Orbital Velocity

- speed of 20,000 to 25,000 km/h

iii. Orbital Time Period

- rotation period of 90 to 120 min

iv. Satellite Availability

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 v. Typical Operating Frequency / Band

Big LEO transmits in the frequency range of 1610 to 1626.5 MHz (uplink) and 2483.5 to 2500MHz
(downlink) and orbit at about 500 to 1500km above the earth surface.

b. Medium Earth Orbit

Medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) satellites are positioned between the two Van Allen belts.

i. Orbital Height

altitude of approximately 20,200 kilometres (12,600 mi)

ii. Orbital Velocity

iii. Orbital Time Period

has an orbital period of 12 hours and passes over the same two spots on the equator every day.

iv. Satellite Availability

MEO satellites orbit the earth at higher altitudes and therefore provide a greater coverage area to the
extent that a company with 24 MEO satellites in position will have four covering any given spot on the
earth at any time during the day.

v. Typical Operating Frequency / Band

c. Geostationary Satellite

Line-of-sight requires that the sending and receiving antennas be locked onto each other’s location at all times
(one antenna must have the other sight). For this reason, a satellite that moves faster or slower than the Earth’s
rotation is useful only for short periods. To ensure constant communication, the satellite must move at the same
speed as the Earth so that it seems to remain fixed to above a certain spot. Such satellites are called
geostationary.

i. Altitude

The GEO satellites, which are at an altitude of 35,768 km, orbit in the equatorial plane with zero degree
inclination and complete exactly one rotation in a day.

ii. Period

24 hour view of a particular area

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 iii. Orbit Inclination

orbit must have an inclination of 0 degree.

iv. Velocity

traveling at 300,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles per second), makes a round trip from the
surface to the satellite and back.

v. Coverage

enough for a complete coverage of almost any spot on earth

vi. Number of Satellites

Total number of active satellites :

539 as of 18 Aug 2022

References:

Advanced Electronic Communications Systems Wayne Sixth Edition

What Is an Orbit? | NASA

What is GPS? | NASA

Satellite Networks | Operation of Satellites | Three Categories of Satellites - Library & Information Management (limbd.org)

Types of Satellite Systems - Javatpoint

Medium Earth orbit - Wikipedia

Medium earth orbit satellites | Capacity Media

Orbit (archive.org)

What is geostationary satellite? - Definition from WhatIs.com (techtarget.com)

List of satellites in geostationary orbit (satsig.net)

Catalog of Earth Satellite Orbits (nasa.gov)

GEO, MEO, and LEO - Via Satellite (satellitetoday.com)

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