Click here to go to our page on Nasa's Deep Space Network
Click here to go to our page on link budget
Click here to enjoy some songs about SatCom (new for December 2020!)
Click here to learn about low noise blocks
New for August 2019....this page will tie togther all aspects of satellite communications... uplinks, downlinks and cross-links.
New for January 2020: Here is a page on LEO Satcom.
Let's start with some definitions, which may be subject to change.
LEO satellites are positioned at an altitude between 160 km and 1,600 km (100 and 1,000 miles) above Earth. The International Space Station is 409 km (254 miles) above Earth, what could go wrong?
MEO satellites operate from 10,000 to 20,000 km (6,300 to 12,500 miles) above Earth.
GEO (geostationary or geosynchronous orbit) satellites are 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above Earth.
When we way "Earth" in this context we are talking about mean sea level.
All that talk about Earth means it's time to review some footage of Eartha.
More coming soon!
Receive figure of merit G/T
Transmit figure of merit EIRP
Link budget
Here's an inflatable SatCom terminal