COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE CONFIGURATIONS FOR THE 1990’s

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 13-15, 1981 / Bahia Hotel, San Diego, CaliforniaContinuing growth in domestic and international communications traffic indicates a need for expanded communications satellite capacity. The size of spacecraft for the 1980’s has been established and design concepts to meet the increased capacity of the 1990’s are under consideration. Launch vehicle capability permits alternatives to single-purpose spacecraft for the new era. Multipurpose spacecraft platforms and clustered satellites are concepts with unique advantages. Platform concepts will be seen in the 1990’s, and growth in technology will permit dedicated spacecraft to achieve new levels of capacity. Technical advances in the 1990’s will include extended spacecraft lifetime possibly enhanced by refurbishment of payloads. Technical capability may well exceed the ability of institutions to utilize it, and innovative arrangements, including participation of financial institutions, may be required to fully exploit the improved technology. In this paper, influential factors, such as multiple narrow-beam antennas coupled with precise pointing, are appraised in terms of design consequences and their impact on spacecraft subsystems is identified.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection