GEO/LEO Hybrid Constellations 'a Dreamland' for Now

Big technology hurdles remain before hybrid constellations of geostationary orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) happen, satellite operators said Monday at the Satellite 2022 conference and trade show in Washington. Systems that are "orbit agnostic" might be "a dreamland," and interoperability between LEO and GEO will take some time to develop, said Arabsat Chief Strategy Officer Hadi Alhassani.

SpaceX continues to look at joining with GEO operators but hasn't found a team-up that works, and LEO "meets the majority of the needs for folks globally," said Jonathan Hofeller, Starlink commercial sales vice president.

Intelsat Chief Technology Officer Bruno Fromont said GEO will be the foundation of the company's next-generation network, with LEO service "a nice complement." A GEO-based network with LEO service added on "is the best recipe," echoed Evan Dixon, Viasat's president-global fixed broadband. Fromont said Intelsat is developing ground network products that would be compatible with it and OneWeb service, but that tech "is not there yet." He said creation of a terminal that can switch seamlessly between LEO and GEO is technologically feasible and could possibly be deployed within a year.

Practicality of the tech remains a challenge for a lot of hybrid constellations, said Comtech Satellite Networks Technologies President Vagan Shakhgildian, noting current options such as ballroom-sized earth stations with multiple antennas. He predicted "considerable progress" in the next 12 to 24 months in making such earth stations cheaper and more practical.

Arabsat's Alhassani said smaller, flexible-use GEOs are "our best bet to compete with" LEO operators. He said their beam-forming capabilities "puts us in the race, to be frank." Such smaller GEOs will be built for shorter lifespans, reflecting how quickly satellite tech changes, Mancini said.

About half of Telesat's GEO fleet is for broadcast customers and will remain that way, but it expects a portion of its two-way services on GEO to migrate to its LEO Lightspeed constellation, said Erwin Hudson, who's overseeing its development. He said Telesat doesn't anticipate phasing out its GEO business and fleet, though no GEO satellites are currently on order.

The C band is under pressure from terrestrial mobile network operators around the globe seeking access to the spectrum, said Alhassani. He said demand for C-band-based services remains in the Middle East, and he hopes satellite access to some of the spectrum will continue. Fromont said satellite access to the 4-4.2 GHz band seems guaranteed at least for the next 15 years -- that being the lifespan of the replacement satellites it and SES are putting up in the C-band clearing. He said with the 3.7-3.8 GHz band being claimed for terrestrial use in Europe and Japan, that 100 MHz is undoubtedly going to end up harmonized globally, with pressure on regulators around the world to allow similar terrestrial authorizations.

SpaceX's Starlink service has about 250,000 subscribers in 29 countries, in consumer, enterprise and business sectors, Hofeller said. He said the first-generation constellation is economically sustainable, but second-gen "will be much more profitable."

The COVID-19 pandemic and its supply chain disruptions put Telesat's Lightspeed constellation behind by about a year, Hudson said. He said the expectation is the first launch will be in 2025, with service commencing the year after.

The surging data demand during the pandemic saw Viasat "whitelist" essential services like Zoom so they didn't count against a customer's data usage and result in throttling, said Viasat's Dixon. He said it prompted a rethinking of Viasat's community connectivity strategy in developing markets like Mexico, pivoting from providing hot spot service to broadband as people wanted access without going to community hot spots like schools.

The early part of the pandemic was marked by big uncertainties, but the space launch business largely had big growth rather than headwinds, launch operators said. Jim Simpson, Virgin Orbit chief strategy officer, said some machinery ended up stuck at docks for months, but it didn’t adversely affect the company as it ramps up. Martin Attiq, Astra chief business officer, said its aim is daily launches, with that volume being key to reducing costs, and the cadence of launches is increasing. He said its rocket production is currently at one a month with the aim of hitting one a week in 2023. James Antifaev, Spaceflight director-new and emerging markets, said last year was one of the company’s best and it’s having strong demand growth.