This September and October, SSPI has been engaged in the Eternal Orbit campaign! There is a place in space where no atmosphere reaches, where satellites are invisible because they fly so high, and where they can hover magically over a single spot on the Earth’s surface. It is called geosynchronous orbit or GEO, because it synchronizes with the turning Earth. It is the first orbit, the oldest one in continuous use by human beings. For decades, it has brought the world television and phone calls, internet and business networks, and communications for military bases and humanitarian missions, remote mines and ships at sea.

The first GEO satellite flew 60 years ago, but the value of GEO orbit keeps flying higher, even as low-flying spacecraft fill the skies. GEO is the only place in space where we can send a single digital signal and have it reach millions of sites. With no atmosphere to slow them down, satellites in GEO can last for more than a decade. GEO is getting smarter, as software-defined payloads are launched that can change their mission on the fly. And GEO is betting bigger, as companies put spacecraft the size of buses into GEO capable of delivering high-speed broadband to millions of customers, while innovation in ground systems squeezes more capacity out of the same bandwidth every year.

Over several consecutive weeks, we have examined this topic in a series of podcasts, live conversations, videos and articles. You’ll have a chance to re-experience all the content of the campaign throughout this issue of The Orbiter, as well new voices with their own stories to tell on the topic.

The Eternal Orbit campaign is underwritten by

Flying Higher

No matter how many new satellites we launch, the value of GEO keeps flying higher. With no atmosphere to slow them down, GEO satellites last more than fifteen years – about three times longer than low-flying ones.

Because GEO satellites last so long, companies like Hughes can afford to make them bigger and more powerful. Its new Jupiter 3 satellite is the size of a bus with a wingspan like a commercial airliner. It will join Jupiter 1 and 2 in delivering broadband to millions of customers.

GEO is getting smarter, too. Instead of big, fixed beams, the newest satellites send out hundreds of narrow spotbeams, each delivering its own load of bandwidth. New technology lets the satellites steer their beams automatically in response to demand on the ground, and steady progress in ground systems squeezes even more capacity out of them every year.

Flying Higher is sponsored by

GEO 2.0: The Future of GEO is Now!

In this podcast, we hear from Dr. Channasandra “Ravi” Ravishankar and Bhanu Durvasula from Hughes about how integrated constellation solutions, including GEO, are meeting the demands of the day and will meet challenges of the future. You’ll also hear more about where satellites in geosynchronous orbit are expanding the capabilities of their nearer Earth cousins.

Dr. Channasandra “Ravi” Ravishankar is Senior Vice President of Engineering at Hughes and leads end-to-end system design activities of GSO and NGSO satellite systems. Bhanu Durvasula, Vice President of the International Division at Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), leads the company’s international product and operations team, responsible for product line management of satellite broadband systems.