Satcom, a portmanteau of satellite communications, was a brand of artificial geo-stationary communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications (RCA Americom) that facilitated wide-area telecommunications by receiving radio signals from Earth, amplifying them, and relaying them back down to terrestrial receivers. [1] [2]
Satcom was one of the early geostationary satellites; the first were the Syncom series, in 1964. The first Satcom satellite, Satcom 1, was launched on 13 December 1975. The last satellite, Satcom K2, was placed into orbit on 27 November 1985 and was de-orbited in February 2002. Satcom was first superseded and then replaced by the GE series of satellites.
The Satcom system passed to General Electric with its purchase of RCA in 1986. RCA Americom became GE American Communications (GE Americom) and the satellite construction division became GE Astro Space. GE Astro Space was sold to Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin Space Systems) in 1993. In 2001, GE sold GE Americom to SES Global, creating SES Americom.
Most early commercial communications satellites were built for and operated by telecommunications companies. RCA, with its own RCA Astro Electronics satellite construction business, identified a role for itself as a satellite owner/operator.
Satcom 1 was used as the launching ground for many cable TV services including HBO, Showtime, Superstation TBS, Nickelodeon, the CBN cable network (now Freeform), ESPN, and The Weather Channel. The satellite spurred the cable television industry to unprecedented heights with the assistance of HBO (who moved their programming from the competing Westar 1, where they had been since their nationwide debut in 1975, to Satcom 1 in February 1976). Cable television networks relay signals to ground-based cable television headends using satellites, which allowed cable TV to enter into the suburban and metropolitan markets, thus allowing HBO to accumulate 1.6 million subscribers by the end of 1977.
A notable legal battle involved Ted Turner suing RCA to get a Satcom 1 transponder in 1980 for the launch of CNN on 1 June 1980. CNN had been scheduled for a Satcom 3 transponder but that satellite failed to reach geosynchronous orbit upon its launch on 7 December 1979.
Shortly after its launch, Satcom 1 was the first satellite used by broadcast TV networks in the United States. The networks ABC, NBC, and CBS distributed their programming content to some local affiliate stations, which had before relied on AT&T's terrestrial microwave and coaxial networks to distribute and relay programming (although NBC used it on an experimental basis for this purpose in the late 1970s). The networks fed to both Satcom 1 and AT&T's network at the same time (for the benefit of those stations who hadn't yet been equipped with Earth station equipment for reception of the satellite) up until the breakup of AT&T in 1984, when the networks switched exclusively to satellite distribution on Satcom 1 (and later satellites), due to the much lower transmission costs, as well as due to AT&T's divestiture itself.
The reason that Satcom 1 was so widely used by both cable and broadcast TV networks is that it had twice the communications capacity of the competing Westar 1 (24 transponders as opposed to Westar 1's 12), which resulted in lower transponder usage costs in general.
All the remaining Satcom satellites were retired in the early 2000s and replaced by the GE/AMC series, originally by GE Americom, then sold to SES.
Model | Manufacturer | Launch date | Launch vehicle | COSPAR ID | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Satcom 1 | RCA Astro Electronics | 12 December 1975 | Delta 3000 | 1975-117A | |
Satcom 2 | RCA Astro Electronics | 26 March 1976 | Delta 3000 | 1976-029A | |
Satcom 3 | RCA Astro Electronics | 7 December 1979 | Delta 3000 | 1979-101A | Failure during GTO (currently in non-geosynchronous orbit) |
Satcom 1R | RCA Astro Electronics | 11 April 1983 | Delta 3000 | 1983-030A | Replaced Satcom 1 |
Satcom 2R | RCA Astro Electronics | 8 September 1983 | Delta 3000 | 1983-094A | Replaced Satcom 2 |
Satcom 3R | RCA Astro Electronics | 20 November 1981 | Delta 3000 | 1981-114A | Replaced Satcom 3 |
Satcom 4 | RCA Astro Electronics | 16 January 1982 | Delta 3000 | 1982-004A | |
Satcom 5 | RCA Astro Electronics | 28 October 1982 | Delta 3000 | 1982-105A | Also called Aurora 1, still on 105.2'W (2006) |
Satcom 4R | Hughes | 8 November 1984 | STS-51-A ( Discovery ) | 1984-113B | Launched as Anik D2, purchased in orbit |
Satcom C1 | GE Astro Space | 20 November 1990 | Ariane 42P | 1990-100A | Replaced Satcom 1R |
Satcom C3 | GE Astro Space | 11 September 1992 | Ariane 44LP | 1992-060B | |
Satcom C4 | GE Astro Space | 31 August 1992 | Delta II (7925) | 1992-057A | |
Satcom C5 | GE Astro Space | 29 May 1991 | Delta II (7925) | 1991-037A | Originally called Aurora 2, replaced Aurora 1 / Satcom 5 |
Satcom K1 | RCA Astro Electronics | 12 January 1986 | STS-61-C ( Columbia ) | 1986-003B | |
Satcom K2 | RCA Astro Electronics | 27 November 1985 | STS-61-B ( Atlantis ) | 1985-109D | |
Satcom K3 | GE Astro Space | 2 March 1991 | Ariane 44LP | 1991-015A | Sold during construction to SES; launched as Astra 1B |
Satcom K4 | GE Astro Space | 10 June 1992 | Atlas II | 1992-032A | Sold during construction to Intelsat, launched as Intelsat K |
Wideband satellite communication solutions delivers reliable and secure high data rate broadband military communication in Ka, Ku and X bands while on-the-move (SOTM), capable of supporting numerous users simultaneously. [3]
The Wideband satellite communication solutions allow military units and operational forces secure and reliable connectivity while maneuvering in challenging environments on land, sea or air.
SOTM adds significant mobility to satellite networks and provides real global on-the-go connectivity compared to terrestrial networks that are limited by line-of-sight (LOS) connections.
Moreover, the triple band SATCOM on-the-move version can includes real-time uninterrupted voice, video and data connectivity at high data rates, robust dynamic performance, GPS independent and modem agnostic, integrated on tracked and wheeled platforms and advanced algorithms to address multi-path interference
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications. Many communications satellites are in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles (35,785 km) above the equator, so that the satellite appears stationary at the same point in the sky; therefore the satellite dish antennas of ground stations can be aimed permanently at that spot and do not have to move to track the satellite. Others form satellite constellations in low Earth orbit, where antennas on the ground have to follow the position of the satellites and switch between satellites frequently.
A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 kbit/s up to 16 Mbit/s. VSATs access satellites in geosynchronous orbit or geostationary orbit to relay data from small remote Earth stations (terminals) to other terminals or master Earth station "hubs".
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites; if it can sustain high speeds, it is termed satellite broadband. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary satellites that can offer relatively high data speeds, with newer satellites using the Ku band to achieve downstream data speeds up to 506 Mbit/s. In addition, new satellite internet constellations are being developed in low-earth orbit to enable low-latency internet access from space.
Westar 1 was America's first domestic and commercially launched geostationary communications satellite, launched by Western Union (WU) and NASA on April 13, 1974. It was built by Hughes for Western Union, using the HS-333 platform of spin-stabilized satellites. It operated until May 1983.
Westar was a fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. There were seven Westar satellites in all, with five of them launched and operating under the Westar name.
SES World Skies was a short lived company formed as a result of the merger between the two SES subsidiaries, SES Americom and SES New Skies. The company was merged into its parent company, SES in 2011.
SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions.
SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired by SES in 2001. In September 2009, SES Americom and SES New Skies merged into SES World Skies.
Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES to add extra capacity to the satellite television services from 19.2° East, serving Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter.
The Wideband Global SATCOM system (WGS) is a high capacity United States Space Force satellite communications system planned for use in partnership by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) and the Australian Department of Defence. The system is composed of the Space Segment satellites, the Terminal Segment users and the Control Segment operators.
AMC-11 , previously GE-11, is an American geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES S.A. It is currently positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 131° West, from where it is used to relay cable television across North America for onward distribution. It broadcasts to Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States.
AMC-4 is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies, part of SES S.A.. Launched in 1999, from Centre Spatial Guyanais, ELA-2 by Ariane 44LP H10-3. It provides coverage to North America, Latin America, Caribbean. Located in a geostationary orbit, AMC-4 provides service to commercial and government customers, with programming distribution, satellite news gathering and broadcast internet capabilities.
USA-195, or Wideband Global SATCOM 1 (WGS-1) is a United States military communications satellite operated by the United States Air Force as part of the Wideband Global SATCOM programme. Launched in 2007, it was the first WGS satellite to reach orbit. It is stationed at a longitude of 174.8° East.
The Military Satellite Communications Directorate is a United States Space Force organization headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. It is one of several wings and other units that make up the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).
Astra 5A was one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 31.5°E. Launched in 1997 to the 5° East position by NSAB as Sirius 2, operation of the satellite was transferred to SES in April 2008 and the craft renamed and moved to 31.5° East to open up a new orbital position for the company for the development of markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
AMC-8, also known as Aurora III, previously GE-8, is a C-band satellite located at 139° West, covering the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It is owned and operated by SES World Skies, formerly SES Americom and before that GE Americom. The satellite provides critical telecommunications services to AT&T Alascom, which occupies most of the satellite's capacity. AMC-8 was launched in 2000 as GE-8, and replaced Satcom-C5 in March 2001.
USA-204, or Wideband Global SATCOM 2 (WGS-2) is a United States military communications satellite which is operated by the United States Air Force as part of the Wideband Global SATCOM programme. Launched in 2009, it was the second WGS satellite to reach orbit, and operates in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 60° East.
USA-244, or Wideband Global SATCOM 6 (WGS-6) is a United States military communications satellite operated by the United States Air Force as part of the Wideband Global SATCOM programme. Launched in 2013, it was the sixth WGS satellite to reach orbit. It is stationed at a longitude of 135° West, in geostationary orbit. WGS-6 was procured by the Australian Defence Force for the U.S. Air Force, in exchange for participation in the programme.
Intelsat K was a geostationary communication satellite built by Lockheed Martin. It was located at orbital position of 21.5 degrees west longitude and was owned by SES World Skies. The satellite was based on the AS-5000 platform and its life expectancy was 10 years. It was retired from service in August 2002 and transferred to a graveyard orbit.