The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had a midnight deadline of November 4th for V-band non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite constellation applications. Nine companies applied and combined they would add over 37,000 satellites to low and medium Earth orbits.
According to FCC documents, Telesat plans to deploy its constellation in two phases. The first phase is the Lightspeed constellation of 298 satellites which has already been approved. In the filings, this phase is now known as the “Global Constellation.”
The second phase, referred to as the “Augmented Constellation,” would add 1373 satellites, bringing Telesat’s total number of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to 1671.
Telesat’s application is a result of an August 4th, 2021 call by the FCC for applications “for NGSO satellite operations in the 37.5-40.0 GHz, 40.0- 42.0 GHz, 47.2-50.2 GHz and 50.4-51.4 GHz bands (referred to herein as the “V-band”).”
Telesat describes the resulting constellation as follows.
“The design concept for the Constellation is consistent with the design for the Telesat Lightspeed Ka-band system.2 The Constellation provides layer-2 Carrier Ethernet connectivity using highly secure and resilient low-latency links and employs a unique hybrid design combining polar orbits for global coverage (the “Polar Sub- Constellation”) with inclined orbits for additional capacity over the highly-populated mid-latitude areas (the “Inclined Sub-Constellation”).”
Telesat states the benefits of the additional V-band satellites include:
- High speed – Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) links;
- High capacity – Terabits-per-second (Tbps) of total capacity;
- Significantly lower latency than GSO – equivalent to, and in some cases even lower than, terrestrial networks;
- Global broadband coverage, including coverage of unserved and underserved areas, giving the ability to connect any two points on the globe;
- Highly secure – ability to avoid traversing any third-party networks, thereby minimizing risk to user information;
- High resiliency – no single point of failure;
- Seamless extension of today’s advanced terrestrial telecom networks – provision of Carrier Ethernet service which allows users to access the constellation data capacity as they would access any other network; and
- Efficiency – efficient use of spectrum and orbital resources.
The second phase will require spectrum approval from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and will need new funding. If second phase is approved by the FCC and ISED, it would also benefit Canadian subcontractors in Telesat’s supply chain.
Other constellation applications
The FCC also received applications from Astra Space, Boeing, Hughes Network Systems, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Kuiper Systems, SN Space Systems, and WorldVu Satellites (OneWeb).
Astra Space is known as an upcoming launch provider based out of California that went public in July through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company). The filing will come as surprise to many and they have the most ambition plan of the nine new fillings, requesting of the FCC to allow them to operate 13,620 satellites.
Astra states “with this FCC application, Astra will provide connectivity to a satellite constellation platform that will power a new generation of space-based services aligned with its stated mission to improve life on Earth from space. The Astra Constellation will provide global secure, high- bandwidth connectivity to enable communications services, environmental and natural resource applications, and national security missions.”
Astra Constellation Phases. Credit: Astra Space.
Other constellation applications by the numbers:
- WorldVu (OneWeb) is planning for an additional 5656 satellites.
- Boeing is planning for 119 satellites in MEO and 5670 in LEO.
- Kuiper Systems (wholly owned by Amazon) is planning an additional 7774 satellites.
- Hughes Systems is planning for 1440 satellites.
- Inmarsat is planning for 198 satellites.
- Intelsat is planning for 216 satellites in MEO.
- SN Space Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of SpinLaunch, is planning for 1250 satellites.