New Spectrum Satellite Proposing NGSO Constellation That Is 'Virtually' GSO

Likening its proposed constellations' orbital pattern to a walking juggler, New Spectrum Satellite (NSS) is seeking FCC International Bureau approval for its planned 15-satellite non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation. In a bureau letter of intent Thursday, Montreal's NSS said its Virtual Geo constellation would use the C-, Ka- and Ku-bands and optical inter-satellite links to provide the backbone to global content delivery networks, plus direct-to-home digital services including broadband. It said the 15 satellites are the first stage of what eventually could be 300 satellites in elliptical orbits deployed and owned by various operators. It said Virtual Geo would be "virtually geo-synchronous," with the satellites following the Earth in unique geosynchronous ground tracks -- the advantage being it and other virtual-geo constellations could operate interference-free from each other and from geostationary orbit satellites. It said in a virtual-geo constellation, satellites are in elliptical orbits with the apogees over intended users and appear to hang there, only to be replaced by the next satellite in the array. NSS said it's affiliated with Virtual Geosatellite, which in 2006 received FCC authorization for a similar highly elliptical orbit constellation (see 0612260113) but subsequently surrendered its license months later (see 0702120110). The letter of intent was to participate in the FCC's recent processing round for NGSO-like satellite systems; that processing round saw 11 companies put forward plans for a total of more than 5,000 NGSOs (see 1611160010).