The Ku band is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under", because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band, which was split into three bands because of the presence of the atmospheric water vapor resonance peak at 22.24 GHz, (1.35 cm) which made the center unusable for long range transmission. In radar applications, it ranges from 12 to 18 GHz according to the formal definition of radar frequency band nomenclature in IEEE Standard 521–2002.
The Indian National Satellite System or INSAT, is a series of multipurpose geostationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations. Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is the largest domestic communication system in the Indo-Pacific Region. It is a joint venture of the Department of Space, Department of Telecommunications, India Meteorological Department, All India Radio and Doordarshan. The overall coordination and management of INSAT system rests with the Secretary-level INSAT Coordination Committee.
Hot Bird is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13°E over the equator and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East.
The Anik satellites are a series of geostationary communications satellites launched for Telesat Canada for television, voice and data in Canada and other parts of the world, from 1972 through 2013. Some of the later satellites in the series remain operational in orbit, while others have been retired to a graveyard orbit. The naming of the satellite was determined by a national contest, and was won by Julie-Frances Czapla of Saint-Léonard, Québec. In Inuktitut, Anik means "little brother".
Sirius was a constellation of communications satellites operated at 5.0° East in geostationary orbit (GEO) by NSAB. They carried digital satellite television to the countries of Scandinavia, Baltic states, Eastern Europe and Africa, including the Viasat pay TV system, along with several pay TV packages for Eastern Europe, the TopTV package for Africa, a number of Ukrainian channels and the national Latvian and Lithuanian channel service free-to-air.
Nilesat 102 is an Egyptian owned geosynchronous communications satellite that was launched by an Ariane 44LP rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on August 17, 2000, at 23:16 UTC by the European Space Agency. It was manufactured by the European company Matra Marconi Space (Astrium), and started official broadcasting on 12 September 2000 with an expected lifetime of 15 years. The spacecraft weighed 1,827 kg at launch.
Eutelsat 16B, formerly known as Hot Bird 4, Nilesat 103, Atlantic Bird 4, and Eurobird 16, is a communications satellite owned and operated by Eutelsat. The satellite was retired in 2015 and was moved into a graveyard orbit above the geostationary belt.
Nilesat is an Egyptian company and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1996 with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associated mission control center and ground stations. The company is owned by the Egyptian Radio & Television Union with a 40 per cent share, the Arab Organization for Industrialization with a 10 per cent share, the Egyptian Company for Investment Projects with a 9 per cent share and the rest is owned by the general public, Egyptian financial institutions and other investors. The company has two ground stations, a primary one in 6th of October City and a secondary ground station in Alexandria. The two ground stations were built by EADS Astrium. Nilesat operates multiple geosynchronous communications satellites, all of which are stationed at 7 degrees West. Nilesat includes as of 17 April 2022 1091 video channels, most of which are free-to-air.
The Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT) is a Japanese corporation established in April 1993 to procure, manage and lease transponders on communications satellites. Its largest stockholder, owning 49.9%, is NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. In 1994, it was ranked by Space News as the world's 19th largest fixed satellite operator.
Nilesat 201, is an Egyptian communications satellite, which was launched on 4 August 2010.
Astra 28.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. It is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe.
Astra 5°E is the name for the Astra communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe.
The DirecTV satellite fleet is a group of communications satellites located at various geostationary orbits that DirecTV uses for their satellite television service and HughesNet internet service. The "DirecTV" prefix in their names has been changed to "T".
ST-1 is a communications satellite owned by Singapore Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Company, Ltd. It was placed launched on 25 August 1998, by an Ariane 4 rocket. The two companies jointly operate the spacecraft from control centres located in Seletar, Singapore and Taipei, Taiwan, respectively.
Eutelsat 36B is a communications satellite in the W series operated by Eutelsat. It is co-located with Eutelsat 36A satellite at 36° East. It was launched on 24 November 2009, at 14:19:10 UTC, by a Proton launch vehicle.
Thor is a family of satellites designed, launched and tested by Hughes Space and Communications for British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB), and were used for Britain's Direct Broadcast Service. Thor is owned by Telenor. Marcopolo 1 launched on 27 August 1989 on the 187th launch of a Delta rocket, and Marcopolo 2 launched on 17 August 1990, on a Delta II rocket. Marcopolo I had the Hughes designation HS376.
Intelsat 901 (IS-901) was the first of nine new Intelsat satellites launched in June 2001 at 18° West, providing Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and C-band coverage for the Atlantic Ocean region. It is capable of selectable split uplink for Satellite news gathering (SNG), tailored for increased communications demands such as DTH and Internet.
Eutelsat 33E, previously known as Hot Bird 10, Atlantic Bird 4A, Eutelsat 3B and Nilesat 104, Hot Bird 13D is a French communications satellite. Operated by Eutelsat, it provides direct to home broadcasting services from geostationary orbit as part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird constellation at a longitude of 13 degrees east.
TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT is a communications satellite operated by Turkmenistan National Space Agency, built by Thales Alenia Space in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France. Launched from Cape Canaveral on 27 April 2015 aboard a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, the satellite operates at 52°E in the geostationary orbit and has an anticipated service life of 15 years. The position is controlled by the Principality of Monaco and the satellite includes 12 transponders that are referred to and commercialised as MonacoSAT as well as the 26 transponders referred to as TürkmenÄlem.
BSAT-1b was a geostationary communications satellite designed and manufactured by Hughes on the HS-376 platform. It was originally ordered and operated by the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT). It was used as backup of BSAT-1a to broadcast television channels for NHK and WOWOW over Japan. It had a pure Ku band payload and operated on the 110°E longitude until it was replaced, along its twin BSAT-1a, by BSAT-3a.
