The National Academies Press

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1 Context for Study
Pages 8-26

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From page 8... ... Among these systems are many that support military, intelligence, and other national security functions of the United States and many other nations. Some of these are unique government, national security systems; however, functions to support national security are also provided by commercial and civilgovernment space systems. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... Some project continued rapid expansion; to others, the growth has been asymptotic and will now slacken. Yet others opine that the trend will reverse as the risks of being overly dependent on space become clear. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... . Earth orbiting satellites are information nodes in a larger global network. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Conventional COMSATs convert radio signals received at one frequency to a different frequency in preparation for retransmission. Newer and more sophisticated COMSATs may actually handle incoming information much like an Internet router, ensuring packets of digital data are given the appropriate path in a network to get to the intended user(s) Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Government-owned capabilities and budgets alone have not been able to, and cannot, meet the growing consumer appetite, thus creating opportunities for commercial actors to help governments meet civilian and military demand. While worldwide government spending had shrunk to 24 percent of total annual space revenues in 2014, compared to the 35 percent it held in 2006, the commercial side 2 The International Space Station (ISS) Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... pdf; AT Kearney GSMA 2013 global report, https://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/760890/ The_Mobile_Economy_2013.pdf; International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, https://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp? prod_id=37; Geospatial World conference January 2014, http://geospatialworldforum.org/2014/; EuroLinker 2014 commercial imagery report; Cisco, Information Technology Update 2015, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_ Global_IT_Report_2015.pdf. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... satellite terminals, the Brazilian Electoral Commission can easily access voters in rural and remote locations with unprecedented speed and accuracy.6 Globalization and the accompanying informa tion revolution enable a level of interconnectivity and convenience unimaginable to even futurists during the first generation of satellites. THE ACCESSIBILITY OF SPACE The global population is predicted to grow to approximately 8.3 billion by the year 2030, while people will consume, access, create, and share digital in formation between one another, and with businesses, infrastructures, and ma chines at an increasing rate. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Space Adventures China Virgin Galactic 2001 2004 2007 2010 2012 2003 2006 2009 2011 2014 Spitzer Space Telescope Kepler Skybox Imaging + Google FIGURE 1-2 Big moments in space history: 2001-2014. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... , May 6, 2014. 8 Multiple sources: ITU Forecast Report 2013, Cisco forecast whitepaper World Bank Global indica tors 2013, and World Bank trends in telecom 2012, Machina Research: Future of M2M market, AT Kearney GSMA 2013 global report, International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Geospatial World conference, January 2014, EuroLinker 2014 commercial imagery report, and Toffler Associates research and interviews. Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... Satellite operators, space-based technology providers, and other commercial remote-sensing and communications competitors that move into these emerging international markets will encounter consumers who want immediate access to greater amounts of data requiring more bandwidth. These consumers are ready to spend on mobile devices and other space-based technologies, as the global devices market is projected to sell over four billion consumer mobile-to-mobile devices by the year 2030. Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... Pacific region, there were about 3.6 billion mobile device subscriptions in 2014 -- 51 percent of the world's total.9 As U.S. and international commercial companies ex pand into those markets, they will need to partner with local companies, possibly state-owned, and local governments to provide services to the local consumers. Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... provide, the U.S. government is transitioning to being a consumer of readily available, commercial space-based capability to support 10 Space Foundation, The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, Colo rado Springs, Colo., 2014, p. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... Warfighters expect to access data anytime, anywhere from a mobile device just as they do in civilian life. During ISR collection missions in re mote areas, military personnel and vehicles will need more bandwidth to operate a new generation of increasingly more prevalent tools, such as UASs, which utilize high bandwidth levels. Read the entire page →
From page 21... ... 13 Department of Defense, Chief Information Officer, "Satellite Communications Strategy Report," in response to Senate Report 113-34 to accompany S.1197, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, August 14, 2014. 14 Warfighters expect to access data anytime, anywhere from a mobile device just as they do in civilian life. Read the entire page →
From page 22... ... For an imag ery satellite, this means a larger satellite can have better resolution for an image (PlanetLabs satellites have image resolutions of about 3 meters, as compared to submeter resolution for a larger commercial imagery satellite) Read the entire page →
From page 23... ... Like all human activities, there are risks from natural disasters and the detritus of human activity -- primarily accumulated orbiting space debris. A growing vulnerability for space systems is from intentional hostile actions by another actor. Read the entire page →
From page 24... ... Tracking this large number of space objects complicates space situational awareness, and inadvertent collision with space debris is a very real concern, especially in LEO. The orbits of these satellites can be categorized as LEO, medium Earth orbit (MEO) Read the entire page →
From page 25... ... Because geostationary orbits appear to remain fixed over a given location on Earth, they are extremely useful for communications, television and radio broadcasting, and Earth observation. At present there are approximately 95 geostationary commercial satellites in the GEO belt, with some operating with as little as 1/10th of a degree angular separation, which translates to approximately 73 km minimum spacing between satellites. Read the entire page →
From page 26... ... A second class of HEO is the Tundra orbit, which has the same 63.4 degree inclination but a higher apogee, such that the period of the orbit is one sidereal day. The Sirius Satellite Radio system operates three HEO satellites to maintain two satellites over North America to provide its broadcast service. Read the entire page →

From page 8...

... Among these systems are many that support military, intelligence, and other national security functions of the United States and many other nations. Some of these are unique government, national security systems; however, functions to support national security are also provided by commercial and civilgovernment space systems.

1 Context for Study Pages 8-26

1 Context for Study
Pages 8-26