Iridium operates about 66 LEO satellites at roughly 780 km, offering truly global coverage including the poles with a one-way latency around 0.1–0.2 seconds. Inmarsat uses 3–4 GEO satellites at about 35,786 km, delivering near-global coverage (roughly ±70° latitude) with about 0.5 second latency, and IsatPhone 2 offers up to 8 hours of talk and…
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Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite-based broadband internet service, and by 2025 the constellation has launched over 7,500 satellites with about 6,750 active in orbit. The satellites orbit in low Earth orbit at roughly 550 km altitude, delivering typical download speeds of 50–200+ Mbps and latency around 20–40 ms. SpaceX began launching Starlink in 2019, and by…
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Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, was the first artificial satellite. Explorer 1 became the United States’ first satellite in 1958. As of 2025, there are roughly 11,000+ active satellites orbiting Earth, with tens of thousands of pieces of inactive satellites and debris. Geostationary satellites orbit about 35,786 km (22,236…
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As of mid-2025, Starlink operates about 7,500 active satellites, the largest fleet in history, accounting for more than 60% of all active satellites. Starlink’s next-generation satellites (v2) weigh about 800 kg each, vs 260 kg for v1, and use inter-satellite laser links to route data across continents. Amazon’s Project Kuiper plans 3,236 LEO satellites at…
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Geostationary orbit sits at about 35,786 km above the equator and completes a sidereal day (~23h56m), so satellites appear fixed over one longitude; Arthur C. Clarke popularized it in 1945, giving the region the nickname the Clarke Belt. A GEO satellite remains stationary relative to the ground, allowing ground antennas to point at a fixed…
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The United States operates the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation, delivering jam-resistant, global, protected military communications including nuclear command and control links. Navstar GPS is a 31-satellite global navigation system that provides precise positioning, navigation, and timing to guide munitions such as JDAM and to synchronize encrypted networks. Defense Support Program (DSP) and the…
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By late 2022, more than 10,000 aircraft worldwide were equipped with in-flight connectivity, and about 65% of airlines planned further IFC investments in the next few years. Aireon’s space-based ADS-B payloads on Iridium NEXT have been operational since 2019, enabling global real-time tracking and supporting ICAO’s 15-minute GADSS position reporting standard. COSPAS-SARSAT, a global satellite…
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L-band MSS terminals, such as Inmarsat FleetBroadband and Iridium Certus, provide global coverage with compact antennas but limited data throughput. Ku-band VSAT (12–18 GHz) has been the maritime workhorse, Ka-band HTS (26–40 GHz) offers higher capacity, while C-band deployments are restricted near shore due to interference and large dish requirements. GEO satellites offer broad coverage…
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Iridium operates 66 active LEO satellites in a cross-linked constellation, providing truly global coverage including the poles. Inmarsat uses 3–4 GEO satellites at about 36,000 km altitude to cover most of the globe from roughly 70°N to 70°S, and its IsatPhone 2 offers 8 hours of talk time. Globalstar runs about 48 LEO satellites to…
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As of January 2025, Burundi had about 1.78 million internet users, roughly 12.5% of ~14 million people, leaving about 88–90% offline. About 99.6% of internet subscriptions are mobile broadband, while fixed broadband is virtually nonexistent with ~0.3% of homes wired and only about 3,000 fixed broadband subscriptions in 2023. 4G coverage reached about 32% of…
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