Background: The Original “Station-Kept” Geostationary Satellites

Once a satellite has been placed accurately into its geostationary orbit it gradually starts to drift north-south on a daily basis, due to the gravitational influence of the sun and moon. If left alone, a satellite that starts out with zero inclination gradually moves into a figure-eight orbit, putting it out of the range of reliable antenna communication.

Keeping a traditional satellite in its geostationary orbit requires activating thrusters powered by large supplies of rocket fuel. To maintain the satellite’s original orbit, these fuel-powered thrusters are activated in bursts every few weeks. This “station-kept” satellite technique corrects the continual trending toward orbit inclination increases, but requires a substantial supply of expensive rocket fuel. Eventually, the fuel supply ends, effectively ending the life of the satellite.

The Inclined Orbit Alternative

Instead of keeping a satellite in a geostationary orbit, it is possible to employ a motorized antenna technology to track (i.e. maintain contact with) the satellite’s natural figure-eight orbit, into which the satellite is placed from the start. This is known as an inclined-orbit satellite system.

Allowing the satellite to oscillate with the natural gravitational pull dramatically saves on fuel, savings that can be passed on to the customer. This inclined orbit pattern greatly extends the satellite lifespan as well as dramatically reducing operational costs over the life of the satellite.

Earth Station Requirements

The Inclined Orbit Satellite system requires additional ground equipment which includes motorized tracking antennas. While there is an obvious investment into the ground equipment needed to track the satellite, the overall cost savings to the consumer can still be well over half of those of station-kept satellites. In both cases, the satellites are in constant control from the earth-station but the inclined orbit satellite requires a fraction of the fuel.

Because inclined-orbit technology with motorized tracking antennas has proven to be as reliable as station-kept geostationary approach, operators can offer the same service level agreements for less expensive inclined-orbit satellite service that they do for traditional satellite systems. This translates to a greatly reduced cost for the end user, with the exact same service performance as traditional methods.

Read more about SkyVision's DVB/SCPC service over Inclined Orbit