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Our first Intelsat Epic satellite has been in space a little over two years now, and we have launched four more since then. With five of these high-throughput satellites (HTS) in orbit and being used by our customers, we have gained quite a bit of both test data and real-world experience demonstrating the capabilities and […]

Our first Intelsat Epic satellite has been in space a little over two years now, and we have launched four more since then. With five of these high-throughput satellites (HTS) in orbit and being used by our customers, we have gained quite a bit of both test data and real-world experience demonstrating the capabilities and

For more than a decade, commercial satellite providers have been working with the U.S. military and Congress to shift the government away from the mindset that it needed to own its own satellites in order to meet its mission and assure network security. A recent article in Space News, focusing on an Air Force budget

High-throughput satellite (HTS) constellations have quickly become transformative technology for satellite communications, far surpassing the bandwidth speed and throughput possible with existing satellite communications.
Earlier this month SatCom Frontier published a story explaining the difference between open vs. closed HTS architecture. Open architecture systems give government end users more control over their data and more flexibility

Sixty years ago, the United States successfully launched the nation’s first satellite into space. The satellite, Explorer 1, was tiny by today’s standards: 80 inches long, a bit over 6 inches in diameter, and weighing just under 31 pounds. But unlike the USSR’s Sputnik satellite launched a few months earlier, which simply demonstrated the feasibility

Recognizing the unique capabilities of helicopters for a wide range of missions, U.S. and foreign governments are actively procuring new aircraft or refreshing their existing fleets. As they rely on these assets for a variety of operations spanning both civilian and military applications, in contested areas, providing broadband connectivity with anti-jamming capabilities becomes increasingly important.
The

Over the past couple of years, multiple commercial satellite operators have begun launching high-throughput satellite (HTS) constellations. These next-generation satellites provide far more throughput than existing wideband satellites, with increases in throughput 2 to 6 times the bandwidth equivalent of conventional commercial or Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites.
Moving to HTS in space in many ways

Flexible and continuous connectivity, especially in contested environments, is a critical priority for defence forces around the world. No nation in Europe can go it alone, so secure, interoperable communications networks are mandatory considering today’s geopolitical realities.
For these reasons, on 13 November 2017 ministers from 23 member states signed a joint notification on the Permanent

The space industry is going through an exciting period of innovation and growth. New technology such as high-throughput satellites (HTS) have transformed space architecture and fundamentally changed what had been a fairly static sector. Technology in space is belatedly catching up to the profound advancements in terrestrial IT networks, something many have called the fourth

The technologies military organizations use in the field and at sea are only as effective as the communications infrastructure working in the background. As the Office of Naval Research (ONR) accelerates its development into innovative technologies for the transmission of mission-critical data, the need for state-of-the-art satellite connectivity increases.
This is where the powerful spot-beam architecture

After much discussion from policymakers, lawmakers, industry and academia, the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) instituted the most sweeping changes to the organization and management of the U.S. space enterprise since the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld Commissions of 2001 and 2007.  While falling short of establishing a separate Space Corps (an idea championed by Rep.

The SatCom Frontier editorial team and everyone at Intelsat General Corp. would like to send holiday best wishes to our online visitors. Thank you for being part of our success in 2017!
A special thanks and best wishes go out to America’s servicemen and women. At any given time, you are stationed in countries around the

Twelve years. That’s how long it can take the Pentagon to plan, design, build and launch an on-orbit satellite. By contrast, satellite communications providers like Intelsat can get a new telecommunications satellite from the drawing board to service in around 36 months. It’s no wonder that U.S. Air Force General John Hyten expressed his frustration

For the most part, the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA’s) recent Industry Day was business as usual. DISA representatives highlighted the need for lower prices, higher capabilities, more throughput, and easier connectivity. But there was one thing that stood out: DISA’s desire to have a Reverse Industry Day.
A Reverse Industry Day is a one-day event

The world’s first satellite, Sputnik I, went into orbit 60 years ago and was about the size of a beach ball. Its four antennas transmitted radio pulses. The most recent Intelsat EpicNG satellite that went into orbit this past September is as big as a school bus and can deliver 45 Gbps of broadband to

As unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are used more widely for military and civil missions, the UAS communications infrastructure must keep up with the technological advances in the satellite industry to ensure the highest performance possible.
Unlike conventional satellites, which use a single wide beam to cover geographic areas thousands of miles wide, Intelsat’s EpicNG platform uses

The holiday season is once again in full swing, and a year of progress and partnerships will soon be in the history books.  As we all pause for our Thanksgiving holidays, the SatCom Frontier editorial team and everyone at IGC would like to wish our readers the happiest of holidays. We hope your day is

With high-throughput satellites covering 99% of the populated regions of the world, commercial satellite providers like Intelsat General are ready and willing to serve the growing bandwidth needs of the military defense market. But there’s a catch. At the Global MilsatCom conference held earlier this month in London, new acquisition challenges came to light: Countries