Telecommunications spacecraft are set to get bigger to service high
definition television and fixed and mobile internet services, including
for airborne users.
According to the European Space Agency's Tomorrow's Bird study - bird being a term used for spacecraft - by the end of this decade telecoms satellites could have masses of 10,000kg (22,000lb), as operators seek to mitigate against high launch costs by building spacecraft able to handle growing demand for services (see table below). But today the heaviest spacecraft making the journey to GEO are up to 7,000kg. To reach GEO the spacecraft are injected into a lower "geostationary transfer orbit," or GTO, and then propel themselves to their higher destination. Read more...
According to the European Space Agency's Tomorrow's Bird study - bird being a term used for spacecraft - by the end of this decade telecoms satellites could have masses of 10,000kg (22,000lb), as operators seek to mitigate against high launch costs by building spacecraft able to handle growing demand for services (see table below). But today the heaviest spacecraft making the journey to GEO are up to 7,000kg. To reach GEO the spacecraft are injected into a lower "geostationary transfer orbit," or GTO, and then propel themselves to their higher destination. Read more...
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