Space Assets - 1

Introduction and
Satellite
Telecommunications

New Space Economy

Andrea Alberti PhD, EMBA

PMOD/WRC / Space4Impact
Outlook
 Introduction and Satellite Telecommunications
 Evolution of SatCom
 Earth Observation
Introduction and Satcom
 Concepts
 SatCom Business Models
 Satcom Performances and Constraints
Concepts: Overview of Space Assets
 “any man-made uniquely identifiable asset in
space or designed to be launched into space,
and comprising:
 A spacecraft such as a satellite, space station,
space module, space capsule, space vehicle or
reusable launch vehicle.
 A payload (whether telecommunications, navigation,
observation, scientific or otherwise).
 A part of a spacecraft or payload such as a
transponder… together with all installed,
incorporated or attached accessories, parts and
equipment and all data, manuals and records
relating thereto.”

Unidroit Space Assets Protocol, Draft

Concepts: Overview of Space Assets
 Earth-Orbiting Assets
 Space Stations
 Global Positioning Systems
 Telecommunication Satellites
 Earth Observation Satellites
 Non-Earth-Orbiting Assets
 Exploration spacecrafts
 Moon infrastructure
 Asteroid mining spacecrafts
 …
Concepts: Space Economy Enablers
 Inspiration:
 Blue Origin (Bezos), Virgin Galactic (Branson),
SpaceX (Musk)
 Technology:
 Technology spillovers
 Standardisation and Reuse
 Moore’s law
Concepts: Space Economy Enablers
 US Policy framework
 1984 Commercial Space Launch (Reagan) Act
 1988 Commercial Space Act (Reagan) Act
 1990 Launch Service Purchase Act (Bush) Act
 2001 GPS Selective Availability discontinued
(Clinton) Law
 2004 Commercial Space Launch Amendments
Act (Bush, G.W.) Act
 2015 Commercial Space Launch
Competitiveness (Obama) Act
 2020 Encouraging International Support for the
Recovery and Use of Space Resources (Trump)
act
 Concepts: the space supply chain

Non Space
Products and Services

Upstream Midstream Downstream

Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti

Concepts: the space supply chain for SatComs

Non Space
Products and Services

Upstream Midstream Downstream

 Concepts: the space supply chain

Non Space
Products and Services

Upstream Midstream Downstream

“The true impact of space is felt downstream”

Carlos des Dorides, EUSPA Director, 2019

Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti

SatCom – Short Recap
 Concepts
 Definition of Space Assets
 Space Economy Enablers
 Space Policy
 Space Supply Chain
SatCom
SatCom: First Steps

1962 – TelStar 1 (MEO) 1960 – Courier 1B (LEO)

SatCom: What does It do?

 Bandwidth
 MHz / month or
 Mbps / month
 Data Allowance
 MB / months
 Quality of Service
 Availability
 Reliability
 Latency
 In-/out bound signal delay
SatCom: What does It do?
Technology

 Bandwidth
 MHz / month or
 Mbps / month
 Data Allowance
 MB / months
 Quality of Service
 Availability
 Reliability
 Latency
 In-/out bound signal delay
SatCom: What does It do?
Technology

 Bandwidth
 MHz / month or
 Mbps / month
 Data Allowance
 MB / months
 Quality of Service
 Availability
 Reliability
 Latency
 In-/out bound signal delay

Satellite Orbit
SatCom: What does It do?
Technology

 Bandwidth
 MHz / month or
 Mbps / month
 Data Allowance
 MB / months
Infrastructure
 Quality of Service
 Availability
 Reliability
 Latency
 In-/out bound signal delay

Orbit
SatCom Business Models: Satellite TV and Radio

1964 – Syncom 3 (GEO)

https://www.satellitetoday.com/content-collection/ses-hub-geo-meo-and-leo/
www.Wikipedia.com
SatCom Business Models: Satellite TV and Radio

Uplink ground TV Satellite Receivers

station (InMarSat) (Waterbury Observer)
SatCom Business Models: Satellite TV and Radio

https://www.satellitetoday.com/content-collection/ses-hub-geo-meo-and-leo/
https://hansael.eu/2018/04/16/global-changes-of-inmarsat-c-coverage/
SatCom Business Models: Satellite TV and Radio

Subscription:
Satellite Running
Revenues
$$$ $$
Invest-
ments
Satellite
$$$ dish:
User Pool One-off
Revenues
Ground $
Station

$$
Running
Agreement Revenues
with TV Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti
Providers
SatCom Business Models: Satellite Phone

Satellite Phones
(Iridium)
SatCom Business Models: Satellite Phone
SatCom Business Models: Satellite Phone
 SatCom Business Models: Satellite Phone

https://www.satellitetoday.com/content-collection/ses-hub-geo-meo-and-leo/
Muri, McNair “A Survey of Communication Sub-systems for Intersatellite Linked Systems and CubeSat”
SatCom Business Models: Satellite Phone
Satellites
$$ $$
Subscription:
$$ $$ $$ Running
Revenues

Invest- $$ $$ $$
ments
Phone:
$$$
one-off
$$ $$ Satellite Revenues
Phone users $$
$$ $$ $$

$$ $$$$$
Ground
stations $$

Agreement with
Landline Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti
Providers
SatCom Business Models: Famous Bankrupcies
 2020 Intelsat, Speedcast International and
OneWeb
 2008 World Space: GEO Digital Radio
Broadcasting, 2 satellites
 2002 Globalstar, LEO satellite phone and
low-speed data communications, 48+
satellite
 2000 ORBCOMM, LEO satellite data and
messaging communications services, 35+
satellites
 1999 Iridium: Satellite Phone, 77 satellites
network
 1999 ICO Global Communication: Mobile
Satellite Services, 12 satellites
SatCom Business Models:
Satellite Internet

Hughes EchoStar 17/Jupiter High Throughput Satellite

Terminals on Terminals on Satcube Ku

an aircraft a cruise ship portable terminal
(stackexchange.com) (Satcube)
SatCom Business Models: DSCS-III military
Satellite Internet satellite in the Atlantis
satellite (Wikipedia)

Mobile Earth Stations (STS) VSAT (Comtech Systems)

SatCom Business Models: Satellite Internet
Fixed Satellite Services and
(most of) High Throughput Satellite Services

Subscription:
Satellite Running
Revenues
$$$ $$
Invest-
ments
VSAT
$$$
one-off
Satellite Revenues
Internet users
Ground $
Station

Agreement with
ISP(s) Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti
SatCom Business Models: Satellite Internet
Starlink 60 satellites
stack (Reddit)

Starlink groundstation (SpaceX) Starlink Terminal (SpaceX)

SatCom Business Models: Satellite Internet
High Throughput, Constellation Based, Services
(Starlink, O3b, OneWeb)
Satellites
$$ $$
Subscription:
$$ $$ $$ Running
Revenues

Invest- $$ $$ $$
ments
VSAT
$$$
one-off
$$ $$ Satellite Revenues
Internet users $$
$$ $$ $$

$$ $$$$$
Ground
stations $$

Agreement with
ISPs Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti
SatCom – Short Recap
 Concepts
 Definition of Space Assets
 Space Economy Enablers
 Space Policy
 Space Supply Chain
 Satcom business models
 “Satellite TV” Business Model
 “Satellite phone” Business Model
 “Satellite internet” Business Model
SatCom Performances and Constraints
Technology driven

 Bandwidth
 MHz / month or
 Mbps / month
 Data Allowance
 MB / months
Infrastructure
 Quality of Service
 Availability
 Reliability
 Latency
 In-/out bound signal delay

Satellite Orbit driven

SatCom Performances and Constraints
Bandwidth
At user side

10 Gbps

1 Gbps

100 Mbps

TV
channel
1 Mbps

<100 kbps Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti

100 ms 500 ms 1min Latency

SatCom Performances and Constraints
Bandwidth
At user side

10 Gbps

1 Gbps

100 Mbps

TV
channel
1 Mbps

Satellite Phone
<100 kbps Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti IoT

100 ms 500 ms 1min Latency

SatCom Performances and Constraints

HTS network in LEO

HTS/FSS
from GEO

https://www.speedtest.net/insights/blog/starlink-hughesnet-viasat-performance-q2-2021/
SatCom Performances and Constraints
Bandwidth
At user side

10 Gbps

1 Gbps

100 Mbps
Satellite
internet TV
channel
1 Mbps

Satellite Phone
<100 kbps Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti IoT

100 ms 500 ms 1min Latency

SatCom Performances and Constraints 1 Tbps
ViaSat-2
Starlink 300 Gbps
10-20 Gbps
Bandwidth ~ 50 ms ViaSat-1 100 Gbps
At user side 140 Gbps,
638 ms

10 Gbps Echostar 10 Gbps

SES O3b 100 Gbps
16 Gbps/satellite
1 Gbps ~200 ms
OneWeb demo ~
400 Mbps
~32 ms
100 Mbps
Satellite
internet TV
channel
Iridium Old gen 1 Mbps
2.5 Mbps (est)
~ 500 ms
Satellite Phone
<100 kbps Image Credit: Andrea E. Alberti IoT

100 ms 500 ms 1min Latency

SatCom Performances
and Constraints: Radio
Spectrum

Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Fixed Satellite Service (FSS)

IoT High Throughput Satellites (HTS)
Satellite Phones Satellite TV
Starlink

“Frequency Band Comparison” by Treinkvist licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Advantages and disadvantages L,S,C,X,Ku,K,Ka Frequency Bands (rfwireless-world.com)
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/us-frequency-allocations.jpg
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/us-frequency-allocations.jpg
SatCom Performances and Constraints:
Radio Spectrum Utilization

https://www.intelsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Intelsat-Technologies-in-Space-Report.pdf
Image credits Airbus, ESA, NASA/JAXA
 Ka Band
SatCom technology inherent
performance drivers

Ku Band

Avanti Communications+Arthur D. Little “High Throughput Satellites”

SatCom Performances and Constraints: Orbit

GEO MEO LEO

Altitude ~36000 km 2000-20000 km 350-2000 km
Round trip
250 ms 13 ms - 130 ms 3-13 ms
Latency
Overpass 24 h / 24 h 20-40 min / few h 2-10 min/ 90 min
Earth
large mid small
Visibility
Ground Few, mid Several, fast and
stations stationary accurate tracking

Satellites Fewer but mid Constellation

costlier required
SatCom – Recap
 Concepts
 Definition of Space Assets
 Space Economy Enablers
 Space Policy
 Space Supply Chain
 Satcom business models
 “Satellite TV” Business Model
 “Satellite phone” Business Model
 “Satellite Internet” Business Model(s)
 Satcom performance and constraints
 Bandwidth and Latency
 Radio Spectrum and Spectrum Utilization
 Orbit
SatCom: Literature & References
 SatCom Market and Business Model
 https://hbr.org/2021/02/the-commercial-space-ag
e-is-here
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Space
_Launch_Act_of_1984
 https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ogc/commercial/
CommercialSpaceActof1998.html
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Space
_Launch_Competitiveness_Act_of_2015
 https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/articles/tools-an
d-technology-articles/nasa-data-policy
 https://savi.sourceforge.io/
 https://www.quora.com/How-much-bandwidth-is-
needed-for-a-digital-broadcast-TV-channel
 https://www.quora.com/How-are-satellite-TVs-ab
le-to-transfer-so-much-data
 https://wccftech.com/starlink-on-verge-of-losing-f
SatCom: Literature & References
 https://www.nrsc.gov.in/EOP_irsdata_Policy/page_1?language_c
ontent_entity=en
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026596461
5000028
 https://mitpress.mit.edu/blog/open-data-global-effort-open-access
-satellite-data
 https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4
419-7671-0_35
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_use_of_space
 https://www.barrons.com/articles/BL-TB-6346?tesla=y
 MSS and Starlink
 3 satellite bankruptcies in 3 months: What happened and who could
be next | S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com)
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation
 https://gatehouse.com/idrs-and-leo-satellites/
 https://www.skytrac.ca/what-is-iridium-certus/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation#Original_I
ridium_constellation
 https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/i/iridium-
next

SatCom: Literature & References
 FSS Vs HTS
 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/satellite-internet-faster-t
han-advertised-but-latency-still-awful/
 https://www.bcsatellite.net/blog/understanding-the-basics-of-hts/
 https://www.nsr.com/state-of-the-satellite-industry-the-nsr-fss-index/
 https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/rp150409/rp150409.htm#h9_3
 https://www.intelsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Intelsat-Technologies-in-S
pace-Report.pdf
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3b
 Prices at SatCom user
 https://www.tomsguide.com/news/starlink-internet-coverage-speed-cost-satellite
s-ipo-and-latest-news
 https://www.reviews.org/internet-service/viasat-reviews/
 https://www.nsr.com/the-evolution-of-satcom-price-discounting/
 5G
 5G Not a simple evolution of mobile broadband networks; is a real integration of
different communication systems
 https://esoa.net/wp-content/uploads/2020-11-5G-Ecosystems-UPDATE-NOV-20
20.pdf
 https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide-digital-identity-and-security/mobile/m
agazine/5g-vs-4g-whats-difference
 https://www.grandmetric.com/2019/03/26/5g-health-issues-explained/
 https://www.nokia.com/networks/insights/5g-space-satellites/
 https://www2.deloitte.com/xe/en/insights/industry/technology/technology-media-
and-telecom-predictions/2021/5g-radiation-dangers-health-concerns.html
SatCom: Literature & References
 https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/Events/Seminars/
GSR/GSR11/documents/
BBReport_BroadbandSatelliteRegulation-E.pdf
 Greenberg, J. S. “Communication Satellites
Business Ventures – Measuring the impact of
technology programmes and relates policies”
Space Policy, February 1986 Butterworth and Do.
 Burkhardt R. “Economy of satellite
communications” 2000 AIAA DOI:
10.2514/6.2000-1229
 (IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced
Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 5, No.
6, 2014