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Celestri

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  1. Celestri

The Celestri Multimedia LEO System was a planned Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which was intended to offer global, low-latency broadband Internet services via Ka-band radio links.1 It was planned by Motorola circa 1997-1998 as one of the earliest "Internet in the sky" constellations, and as a successor to the company's Iridium satellite constellation, but never built or launched.

The Celestri constellation was envisioned to consist of 63 operational satellites in 7 orbital planes, inclined at 48° with respect to the Equator, plus up to 7 in-orbit spares.1 Satellites in each plane would follow circular orbits at an altitude of 1400 kilometers.1 Each satellite was envisioned to contain all hardware and software needed to route traffic throughout the network, including Earth-to-space in the 28.6-29.1 GHz and 29.5-30.0 GHz bands, space-to Earth in the 18.8-19.3 GHz and 19.7-20.2 GHz bands, and space-to-space connections via optical inter-satellite links.1 Satellites were expected to employ phased array antennas supporting 432 uplink beams and 260 downlink beams per satellite,2 provided by Raytheon,3 to communicate with Celestri ground stations, which would have equivalent antenna aperture sizes from 0.3 to 1 meter to support communications at rates from 2.048 to 155.52 Mbps.

Celestri's anticipated cost was $12.9 billion.4 In May 1998, Motorola announced that it was dropping its plans for the Celestri system, and instead would invest $750 million in the rival Teledesic constellation.5 The combined project was ultimately abandoned in 2003.6

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References

  1. 1Application for Authority to Construct, Launch and Operate the Celestri Multimedia LEO System, A Global Network of Non-Geostationary Communications Satellites Providing Broadband Services in the Ka Band, filed June 1997 with the Federal Communications Commission, Motorola Global Communications, Inc., Chandler, Arizona.
  2. 2Satellite Earth Stations and Systems (SES); Broadband satellite multimedia; Part 1: Survey on standardization objectives, ETSI Technical Report TR 101 374-1 V1.2.1 (1998-10), page 50.
  3. 3"Motorola to Give Raytheon Satellite-Antennae Contract", Wall Street Journal, October 30, 1997.
  4. 4"Motorola to build $12.9 billion global satellite network Celestri, a direct challenge to Teledesic, SkyBridge", Bloomberg News, June 18, 1997.
  5. 5"Motorola decides to drop Celestri satellite project, Will invest $750 million in rival Teledesic", Bloomberg News, May 22, 1998.
  6. 6de Selding, Peter B. "Teledesic Plays Its Last Card, Leaves the Game". Space News, July 14, 2003.
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Terminology

Celestri Multimedia LEO System
The Celestri Multimedia LEO System was a planned Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which was intended to offer global, low-latency broadband Internet services via Ka-band radio links.

Terms the article defines in bold, quoted in context.

Categories:
  • Communications satellite constellations
  • Spacecraft stubs

236 words · 6 references · revision 982116994 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Key concepts

  • Low Earth orbit1
  • Satellite constellation1
  • Ka-band1
  • Motorola1
  • Satellite internet constellation1
  • Iridium satellite constellation1
  • Orbital plane1
  • Free-space optical communication1
  • Phased array1
  • Raytheon1

The articles this one links to most, weighted towards the introduction.

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Created
16 Jun 2019
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10 edits
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Last edited
6 Oct 2020

10 revisions in total · 5 contributors

  1. 6 Oct 2020, 08:01 UTCWikiCleanerBotmv2.03b - Bot T20 CW#61 - WP:WCW project (Reference before punctuation)0diff
  2. 4 Sept 2020, 22:36 UTCAnonymous contributorLink to satellite internet constellation+37diff
  3. 31 Aug 2020, 21:34 UTCAnonymous contributorNo edit summary+8diff
  4. 19 Aug 2020, 19:25 UTCAnonymous contributorAdded satellite constellations navbox+29diff
  5. 11 Jun 2020, 17:38 UTCYarnalgomCategory:Communications satellite constellations−24diff
  6. 11 Jun 2020, 17:35 UTCYarnalgoCategory:Satellite constellations, {{spacecraft-stub}}, and ref cleanup+89diff
  7. 16 Jun 2019, 12:41 UTCDaderotNo edit summary+300diff
  8. 16 Jun 2019, 12:31 UTCDaderotNo edit summary+150diff

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Created
16 Jun 2019
History
10 edits
5 contributors
No edits in the last 30 days
Last edited
6 Oct 2020

Go deeper: linked from this article

  • Linked from the introduction

    Iridium satellite constellation

    Satellite constellation providing voice and data coverage

    The Iridium satellite constellation provides L band voice and data information coverage to satellite phones, satellite messenger communication devices and integrated transceivers.

    23 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Free-space optical communication

    Communication using light sent through free space

    Free-space optical communication (FSO) is an optical communication technology that uses light propagating in free space to wirelessly transmit data for telecommunications or computer networking over long distances.

    14 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Satellite internet constellation

    Satellite constellation providing internet connectivity

    A satellite internet constellation is a constellation of artificial satellites providing satellite internet service.

    12 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Phased array

    Array of antennas creating a steerable beam

    In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antennas.

    20 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Satellite constellation

    Group of artificial satellites working together as a system

    A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system.

    19 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Orbital plane

    Concept in geometry and physics

    The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies. Three non-collinear points in space suffice to determine an orbital plane.

    1 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Low Earth orbit

    Orbit around Earth between 160 and 2000 km

    A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25.

    8 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Ka band

    Portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum (26.5–40 gigahertz)

    The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

    4 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Raytheon

    U.S. defense contractor

    Raytheon was a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons, military, and commercial electronics.

    23 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Motorola

    American telecommunications company (1928–2011)

    Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois.

    19 min readGo deeper
  • Linked from the introduction

    Teledesic

    Satellite company

    Teledesic was a company founded in the 1990s to build a commercial broadband satellite internet constellation.

    3 min readGo deeper