Satellite Communications

A satellite is defined today as a space vehicle put into orbit around our planet with the primary goal of providing subscribers with access to data and services, no matter where they may be located on the ground.  It may surprise people that the first real satellite used by humans was put into Earth's orbit over 4.5 billion years ago: the Moon!  

Ever since people started bouncing signals off of that celestial body, the search had been on to try and find new and innovative ways to provide communications and data across the globe.  The uses of satellites are as varied as their types and orbit the Earth at many different elevations, each providing their own unique benefits for the services they provide. A wide variety of space vehicles now exist to perform functions as common as rebroadcasting your favorite television program, to the investigative delving into the far corners of the known universe.