Daily Current Affairs for UPSC : 13 Aug 2025/Internet Sattelite

Why in News?  Internet satellites are artificial satellites placed in Earth’s orbit that provide internet connectivity directly to users on the ground—often without the need for traditional cable, fiber, or mobile tower infrastructure.

How they work ?

• Satellites in orbit (Low Earth Orbit – LEO, Medium Earth Orbit – MEO, or Geostationary Orbit – GEO) act like wireless internet towers in space.
• They receive internet data from ground stations connected to the global internet.
• They beam this data to user terminals (small dish antennas or phased-array antennas) on the ground.
• This connection is two-way—your terminal also sends requests back to the satellite, which relays them to the internet backbone.

Types of Internet Satellites:

GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) – ~36,000 km altitude

1. • Covers huge areas
   • Higher latency (~600 ms)
   • Examples: HughesNet, Viasat

LEO (Low Earth Orbit) – 500–2,000 km altitude

1. • Lower latency (~20–40 ms)
   • Requires large constellations for coverage
   • Examples: Starlink, OneWeb

MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) – ~8,000–20,000 km altitude

1. • Balance between coverage and latency
   • Example: O3b mPOWER

Advantages:

• Global coverage, including remote and rural areas.
• Disaster resilience—works even if local towers or cables are damaged.
• Fast deployment compared to laying fiber.

 Limitations:

• Expensive user equipment initially.
• Signal issues in bad weather (especially for high-frequency bands like Ka-band).
• Requires clear view of the sky.
• LEO constellations need hundreds or thousands of satellites for uninterrupted service.

Starlink in India:

• Operated by SpaceX, Starlink plans to deploy thousands of LEO satellites (~550 km altitude).
• Offers 100–250 Mbps speeds with low latency.
• Could greatly benefit rural broadband, military communications, and disaster management.