Misplaced Pages

#711288

77-491: The United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System ( UK GNSS ) was a United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) research programme which, between May 2018 and September 2020, developed outline proposals for a United Kingdom (UK) owned and operated conventional satellite navigation system, as a British alternative to the European Union (EU) owned and operated Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System. The main reason

154-426: A Service or SaaS applications as well as in other forms of online work. Functions, like live interactive access to a distant computer—such as virtual private networks , can be affected by the high latency. Many TCP protocols were not designed to work in high-latency environments. Medium Earth orbit (MEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations do not have such long delays, as the satellites are closer to

231-526: A class of next-generation satellites providing improved capacity and bandwidth became operational. More recently, high throughput satellites such as ViaSat's ViaSat-1 satellite in 2011 and HughesNet's Jupiter in 2012 have achieved further improvements, elevating downstream data rates from 1 to 3 Mbit/s up to 12 to 15 Mbit/s and beyond. Internet access services tied to these satellites are targeted largely to rural residents as an alternative to Internet service via dial-up, ADSL or classic FSSes . In 2013,

308-465: A fixed area for a period of up to five years, and able to provide both continuous surveillance to ground assets as well as to service extremely low-latency communications networks. This project was cancelled in 2012 before it became operational. Onboard batteries would charge during daylight hours through solar panels covering the wings and would provide power to the plane during night. Ground-based satellite internet dishes would relay signals to and from

385-404: A form of GNSS service in addition to its primary purpose of fast satellite broadband . If successful, an ongoing merger between OneWeb and French satellite operator Eutelsat , which is partly state-owned through Bpifrance , will result in both UK and French government representation on the board of the resulting company. Analysts are speculating that this could mean greater collaboration between

462-513: A means of combating limited bandwidth on airplanes and offering passengers usable internet speeds. As of 2024, companies providing home internet service in the United States via satellite included ViaSat , through its Exede brand, EchoStar , through subsidiary HughesNet , Starlink , and Project Kuiper . The EU plans to commence the IRIS² project in the 2020s. As of 2023, China

539-834: A new generation of high-powered GEO satellites positioned 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi) above the equator, operating in K a -band (18.3–30 GHz) mode. These new purpose-built satellites are designed and optimized for broadband applications, employing many narrow spot beams, which target a much smaller area than the broad beams used by earlier communication satellites. This spot beam technology allows satellites to reuse assigned bandwidth multiple times which can enable them to achieve much higher overall capacity than conventional broad beam satellites. The spot beams can also increase performance and consequential capacity by focusing more power and increased receiver sensitivity into defined concentrated areas. Spot beams are designated as one of two types: subscriber spot beams, which transmit to and from

616-459: A new project that will explore alternative ways to provide satellite navigation services. The agency's chief executive since September 2021 is Dr Paul Bate , a civil servant with a PhD in particle physics . Graham Turnock , a physicist who had previously worked at HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy , was the chief executive from March 2017 until

693-423: A number of ground stations known as gateways that relay Internet data to and from the satellite via radio waves ( microwave ), and further ground stations to serve each subscriber, with a small antenna and transceiver . Other components of a satellite Internet system include a modem at the user end which links the user's network with the transceiver, and a centralized network operations centre (NOC) for monitoring

770-736: A potential means of providing Internet access. A significant enabler of satellite-delivered Internet has been the opening up of the K a band for satellites. In December 1993, Hughes Aircraft Co. filed with the Federal Communications Commission for a license to launch the first K a -band satellite, Spaceway . In 1995, the FCC issued a call for more K a -band satellite applications, attracting applications from 15 companies. Among those were EchoStar , Lockheed Martin , GE-Americom , Motorola and KaStar Satellite, which later became WildBlue . Among prominent aspirants in

847-453: A space-based optical mesh network that will enable seamless network management and continuity of service. The satellite has its own set of antennas to receive communication signals from Earth and to transmit signals to their target location. These antennas and transponders are part of the satellite's "payload", which is designed to receive and transmit signals to and from various places on Earth. What enables this transmission and reception in

SECTION 10

#1732782601712

924-503: A typical one-way connection latency of 500 to 700 ms from the user to the ISP, or about 1,000 to 1,400 ms latency for the total round-trip time (RTT) back to the user. This is more than most dial-up users experience at typically 150–200 ms total latency, and much higher than the typical 15 to 40 ms latency experienced by users of other high-speed Internet services, such as cable or VDSL . For geostationary satellites, there

1001-474: Is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator (0° latitude), with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero (i.e. a "circular orbit"). An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers. Launchers often place communications satellites and weather satellites in geostationary orbits, so that

1078-405: Is a not-for-profit research organisation which is registered as a private company limited by guarantee and controlled by its Board. A £40m International Space Innovation Centre ( ISIC ) was created in 2011 at Harwell alongside the research facility for ESA . Some of its tasks were to investigate climate change, and the security of space systems. £24m of the cost of the centre was to be funded by

1155-553: Is in the process of developing its own, state-owned, satellite internet constellation , run by Chinasat . India’s main offerings in the space is Oneweb and JioSpaceFiber . And is as of 2023, entertaining licenses for Starlink and Project Kuiper. Satellite Internet generally relies on three primary components: a satellite – historically in geostationary orbit (or GEO) but now increasingly in Low Earth orbit (LEO) or Medium Earth orbit MEO)  –

1232-449: Is lost can be reduced by increasing the size of the satellite communication dish so as to gather more of the satellite signal on the downlink and also to provide a stronger signal on the uplink. In other words, increasing antenna gain through the use of a larger parabolic reflector is one way of increasing the overall channel gain and, consequently, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, which allows for greater signal loss due to rain fade without

1309-476: Is no way to eliminate latency, but the problem can be somewhat mitigated in Internet communications with TCP acceleration features that shorten the apparent round trip time (RTT) per packet by splitting ("spoofing") the feedback loop between the sender and the receiver. Certain acceleration features are often present in recent technology developments embedded in satellite Internet equipment. Latency also impacts

1386-415: Is the delay between requesting data and the receipt of a response, or in the case of one-way communication, between the actual moment of a signal's broadcast and the time it is received at its destination. A radio signal takes about 120 milliseconds to reach a geostationary satellite and then 120 milliseconds to reach the ground station, so nearly 1/4 of a second overall. Typically, during perfect conditions,

1463-447: Is then routed to a specific ground location through a channel known as a carrier. Beside the payload, the other main component of a communications satellite is called the bus, which comprises all equipment required to move the satellite into position, supply power, regulate equipment temperatures, provide health and tracking information, and perform numerous other operational tasks. Along with dramatic advances in satellite technology over

1540-431: Is usually undertaken in one of three ways, using: In May 2022, Kazakhstani mobile network operator, Kcell , and satellite owner and operator, SES used SES's O3b MEO satellite constellation to demonstrate that MEO satellites could be used to provide high-speed mobile internet to remote regions of Kazakhstan for reliable video calling, conferencing and streaming, and web browsing, with a latency five times lower than on

1617-572: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy . Earlier, responsibility for regulation, such as for spacecraft launch, had been transferred to the Civil Aviation Authority . A new cabinet committee , the National Space Council, was soon due to have its first meeting following its announcement in the 2019 Queen's Speech . The UK Space Gateway at Harwell , Oxfordshire is a focal point for growth in

SECTION 20

#1732782601712

1694-666: The Galileo system, the European equivalent of the United States of America owned and operated Global Positioning System (GPS), originally known as Navstar GPS. This UK exclusion from Galileo was despite the fact that the United Kingdom had already contributed more than £1.2 billion towards the cost of setting up Galileo, together with providing much of the British development and cutting-edge technology. One suggested name for

1771-720: The "Space Innovation and Growth Strategy" (Space-IGS) report, published by the Space Innovation and Growth Team in February 2010. David Williams was appointed Acting Chief Executive on 1 April 2010, and he was confirmed as the first CEO on 1 April 2011. Alice Bunn is the International Director. Although Space-IGS called for the UK to double European Space Agency (ESA) contributions and to initiate and lead at least three missions between 2010 and 2030, this

1848-676: The British economy £1 billion per day. The United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System was first discussed by the UK Government in May 2018, after the European Union told the United Kingdom that it would no longer have full access to, nor be able to use the encrypted secure component (known as the Public Regulated Service, which is only accessible to the military, emergency services, and government agencies) of

1925-544: The Earth Observation Climate Office, Science and Exploration teams and Technology and Quality Management teams supporting ESA research and development programmes in the UK, focusing on 'game-changing' technologies and capabilities. The Satellite Applications Catapult is an independent innovation and technology company, created as part of the Catapult centres programme to foster growth across

2002-436: The K a band (19/29 GHz) can use special techniques such as large rain margins , adaptive uplink power control and reduced bit rates during precipitation. Rain margins are the extra communication link requirements needed to account for signal degradations due to moisture and precipitation, and are of acute importance on all systems operating at frequencies over 10 GHz. The amount of time during which service

2079-455: The S/N ratio dropping below its minimum threshold for successful communication. Modern consumer-grade dish antennas tend to be fairly small, which reduces the rain margin or increases the required satellite downlink power and cost. However, it is often more economical to build a more expensive satellite and smaller, less expensive consumer antennas than to increase the consumer antenna size to reduce

2156-699: The UK Space Agency neared its opening day, Lord Mandelson , Lord Drayson and astronaut Tim Peake officially announced its establishment at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 23 March 2010. On that day, a ceremony was held in which Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a plaque at the entrance to the centre. Around £230 million of funding and management functions were merged into the UK Space Agency from other organisations. "Improving co-ordination of UK efforts in fields such as Earth science, telecoms and space exploration"

2233-566: The UK and EU with regards to satellite technology. On 24 September 2020, the UK Government announced that the UK GNSS programme would be replaced with a new project; the Space Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Programme; which will explore innovative ways to provide satellite navigation services to the UK, building on findings from the concluded UK GNSS programme. The UK Government had allocated £90 million to developing

2310-589: The UK government’s decision to increase its contribution to ESA. Named after the ESA's first British Director General, Roy Gibson, ECSAT's building hosts 100+ jobs including teams in telecommunications and integrated applications. Special emphasis is put on the development of new markets for satellite-based services and applications. In addition, new satellite, ground infrastructure and product developments are being initiated through original schemes of public–private partnerships with world-class operators. The building also houses

2387-496: The UK's space sector. Harwell is home to a growing number of space organisations including start-ups, inward investors, corporate offices, the Satellite Applications Catapult, RAL Space and ESA's ECSAT Facility. As of April 2016, the site is estimated to host over 600 space-related employees working in circa 60 organisations. ESA ’s UK facility, ECSAT, has been developing steadily since 2008, following

United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-566: The United Kingdom in all negotiations on space matters. The Agency "[brings] together all UK civil space activities under one single management". It is based at the Harwell Campus near Didcot. The creation of the UK Space Agency was first publicly announced by UK Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson , on 10 December 2009 during a speech at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) space conference. As

2541-497: The United Kingdom's GNSS encrypted area after it is launched. In November 2019, the United Kingdom's Space Trade Association (UKSTA) released a United Kingdom Space Manifesto, in which they state "the UK's post-Brexit participation in a new global satellite navigation system must be secured". In July 2020, the United Kingdom Government and India's Bharti Enterprises were successful in a joint bid to purchase

2618-656: The academic research community. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory , headquartered at Porton Down , Wiltshire, began a five-year programme of defence-related space research in 2017. Satellite broadband Following the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik 1 , by the Soviet Union in October 1957, the US successfully launched the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958. The first commercial communications satellite

2695-425: The aircraft, resulting in a greatly reduced round-trip signal latency of only 0.25 milliseconds. The planes could potentially run for long periods without refueling. Several such schemes involving various types of aircraft have been proposed in the past. Satellite communications are affected by moisture and various forms of precipitation (such as rain or snow) in the signal path between end users or ground stations and

2772-497: The bankrupt OneWeb satellite communications company, with the UK paying £400 million ( US$ 500 million) for a 45% stake. As a result of further investment in OneWeb from companies including SoftBank Group , Hughes Network Systems , and Hanwha Group , the UK Government's stake has been reduced to less than 20%. The UK government was considering whether the OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation could in future provide

2849-409: The connection to a customer, and tracking by the ground stations. MEO satellites require higher power transmissions than LEO to achieve the same signal strength at the ground station but their higher altitude also provides less orbital overcrowding, and their slower orbit speed reduces both Doppler shift and the size and complexity of the constellation required. Tracking of the moving satellites

2926-404: The early-stage satellite Internet sector was Teledesic , an ambitious and ultimately failed project funded in part by Microsoft that ended up costing more than $ 9 billion. Teledesic's idea was to create a satellite Internet constellation of hundreds of low-orbiting satellites in the K a -band frequency, providing inexpensive Internet access with download speeds of up to 720 Mbit/s. However,

3003-533: The economy through the exploitation of space. The Catapult helps organisations make use of and benefit from satellite technologies, and bring together multi-disciplinary teams to generate ideas and solutions in an open innovation environment. It was established in May 2013 by Innovate UK (formerly known as the Technology Strategy Board) as one of a network of centres to accelerate the take-up of emerging technologies and drive economic growth. It

3080-410: The end of his four-year term in 2021. Libby Jackson is the agency's Head of Space Exploration and Anu Ojha is the director of Championing Space. Proposed sites for spaceports, and the companies associated with them, are as follows: RAL Space, based at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , carries out space research and technology development. The Space Academic Network provides a voice for

3157-405: The entire system. Working in concert with a broadband gateway, the satellite operates a Star network topology where all network communication passes through the network's hub processor, which is at the centre of the star. With this configuration, the number of ground stations that can be connected to the hub is virtually limitless. Marketed as the centre of the new broadband satellite networks are

United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-622: The existing platform based on geostationary orbit satellites. A proposed alternative to relay satellites is a special-purpose high altitude platform stations aircraft, which would fly along a circular path above a fixed ground location, operating under autonomous computer control at a height of approximately 20,000 meters. For example, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Vulture project envisaged an ultralight aircraft capable of station-keeping over

3311-637: The first four satellites of the O3b constellation were launched into medium Earth orbit (MEO) to provide internet access to the "other three billion" people without stable internet access at that time. Over the next six years, 16 further satellites joined the constellation, now owned and operated by SES . Since 2014, a rising number of companies announced working on internet access using satellite constellations in low Earth orbit . SpaceX , OneWeb and Amazon all planned to launch more than 1000 satellites each. OneWeb alone raised $ 1.7 billion by February 2017 for

3388-413: The gateway antenna can stay pointed at a fixed position. For the customer-provided equipment (i.e. PC and router) to access the broadband satellite network, the customer must have additional physical components installed: At the far end of the outdoor unit is typically a small (2–3-foot, 60 to 90 cm diameter), reflective dish-type radio antenna. The VSAT antenna must also have an unobstructed view of

3465-406: The gateway receives radio wave signals from the satellite on the last leg of the return or upstream payload, carrying the request originating from the end-user's site. The satellite modem at the gateway location demodulates the incoming signal from the outdoor antenna into IP packets and sends the packets to the local network. Access server/gateways manage traffic transported to/from the Internet. Once

3542-641: The government, with the remainder from industry. In April 2013, ISIC merged into the newly formed Satellite Applications Catapult. In November 2018, the British government announced that the UK Space Agency would abandon ties to the European Space Agency 's Galileo navigation system following Brexit in favour of developing its own system of navigation satellites . The total cost of the United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System project

3619-474: The ground. The absolute minimum total amount of delay varies, due to the satellite staying in one place in the sky, while ground-based users can be directly below (with a roundtrip latency of 239.6 ms), or far to the side of the planet near the horizon (with a roundtrip latency of 279.0 ms). For an Internet packet, that delay is doubled before a reply is received. That is the theoretical minimum. Factoring in other normal delays from network sources gives

3696-486: The ground. For example: Unlike geostationary satellites, LEO and MEO satellites do not stay in a fixed position in the sky and from a lower altitude they can "see" a smaller area of the Earth , and so continuous widespread access requires a constellation of many satellites (low-Earth orbits needing more satellites than medium-Earth orbits) with complex constellation management to switch data transfer between satellites and keep

3773-399: The initial request has been processed by the gateway's servers, sent to and returned from the Internet, the requested information is sent back as a forward or downstream payload to the end-user via the satellite, which directs the signal to the subscriber terminal. Each Gateway provides the connection to the Internet backbone for the gateway beam(s) it serves. The system of gateways comprising

3850-551: The initiation of secure Internet connections such as SSL which require the exchange of numerous pieces of data between web server and web client. Although these pieces of data are small, the multiple round trips involved in the handshake produce long delays compared to other forms of Internet connectivity, as documented by Stephen T. Cobb in a 2011 report published by the Rural Mobile and Broadband Alliance. This annoyance extends to entering and editing data using some Software as

3927-422: The likes of first-person shooters or racing simulators while many MMOGs can operate well over satellite Internet ), but IPTV is typically a simplex operation (one-way transmission) and latency is not a critical factor for video transmission. The effects of this delay may be mitigated using data compression, TCP-acceleration, and HTTP pre-fetching. A geostationary orbit (or geostationary Earth orbit/GEO)

SECTION 50

#1732782601712

4004-448: The network in which the satellite functions as a bridge in space, connecting two communication points on the ground. The term "bent-pipe" is used to describe the shape of the data path between sending and receiving antennas, with the satellite positioned at the point of the bend. Simply put, the satellite's role in this network arrangement is to relay signals from the end user's terminal to the ISP's gateways, and back again without processing

4081-680: The new UK system was "Newton", after the English mathematician and scientist Sir Isaac Newton . The UK GNSS was run by the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). Medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites were planned to be launched from the proposed spaceport in Sutherland , Scotland, using a vertical launch platform in 2025, with the United Kingdom GNSS planned to be fully operational by 2030. In 2019, it

4158-587: The next generation of O3b satellites and service, named O3b mPOWER . The constellation of 11 MEO satellites will deliver 10 terabits of capacity globally through 30,000 spot beams for broadband internet services. The first two O3b mPOWER satellites launched in December 2022, with nine more scheduled for deployment in 2023-2024 and the initial service start expected in Q3 2023. As of 2017, airlines such as Delta and American have been introducing satellite internet as

4235-477: The output provided by satellite navigation systems by many aspects of everyday life, in both private and commercial sectors, along with critical uses by military , maritime , and emergency services , continued and reliable access to such navigation systems is vital for the United Kingdom. An earlier study by the UK Government warned that sustained disruption to a reliable satellite navigation could cost

4312-451: The past decade, ground equipment has similarly evolved, benefiting from higher levels of integration and increasing processing power, expanding both capacity and performance boundaries. The Gateway —or Gateway Earth Station (its full name)—is also referred to as a ground station, teleport or hub. The term is sometimes used to describe just the antenna dish portion, or it can refer to the complete system with all associated components. In short,

4389-418: The payload transponders is a repeater subsystem (RF (radio frequency) equipment) used to change frequencies, filter, separate, amplify and group signals before routing them to their destination address on Earth. The satellite's high-gain receiving antenna passes the transmitted data to the transponder which filters, translates and amplifies them, then redirects them to the transmitting antenna on board. The signal

4466-536: The physics involved in satellite communications account for approximately 550 milliseconds of latency round-trip time. The longer latency is the primary difference between a standard terrestrial-based network and a geostationary satellite-based network. The round-trip latency of a geostationary satellite communications network can be more than 12 times that of a terrestrial based network. Satellite latency can be detrimental to especially time-sensitive applications such as on-line gaming (although it only seriously affects

4543-468: The project was abandoned in 2003. Teledesic's failure, coupled with the bankruptcy filings of the satellite communications providers Iridium Communications Inc. and Globalstar , dampened marketplace enthusiasm for satellite Internet development. The first Internet-ready satellite for consumers was launched in September 2003. In 2004, with the launch of Anik F2 , the first high-throughput satellite ,

4620-457: The project, and SpaceX raised over one billion in the first half of 2019 for their service called Starlink . They expected more than $ 30 billion in revenue by 2025 from its satellite constellation. Starlink, as of February 2024, has 5,402 operational satellites in orbit. Many planned constellations employ laser communication for inter-satellite links to effectively create a space-based internet backbone . In September 2017, SES announced

4697-616: The proposals. UK Space Agency The United Kingdom Space Agency ( UKSA ) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom , responsible for the United Kingdom 's civil space programme . It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and took over responsibility for government policy and key budgets for space exploration; it represents

SECTION 60

#1732782601712

4774-465: The satellite antennas that communicate with them do not have to move to track them, but can point permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites stay. Due to the constant 0° latitude and circularity of geostationary orbits, satellites in GEO differ in location by longitude only. Compared to ground-based communication, all geostationary satellite communications experience higher latency due to

4851-413: The satellite being utilized. This interference with the signal is known as rain fade . The effects are less pronounced on the lower frequency 'L' and 'C' bands but can become quite severe on the higher frequency 'Ku' and 'Ka' band. For satellite Internet services in tropical areas with heavy rain, use of the C band (4/6 GHz) with a circular polarisation satellite is popular. Satellite communications on

4928-420: The satellite ground system provides all network services for satellite and corresponding terrestrial connectivity. Each gateway provides a multiservice access network for subscriber terminal connections to the Internet. As the continental United States is north of the equator, all gateway and subscriber dish antenna must have an unobstructed view of the southern sky. Because of the satellite's geostationary orbit,

5005-496: The sending device (computer, router, etc.) it receives an input bitstream and converts or modulates it into radio waves, reversing that order for incoming transmissions, which is called demodulation . It provides two types of connectivity: Consumer grade satellite modems typically employ either the DOCSIS or WiMAX telecommunication standard to communicate with the assigned gateway. Latency (commonly referred to as "ping time")

5082-524: The signal at the satellite. The satellite receives, amplifies, and redirects a carrier on a specific radio frequency through a signal path called a transponder. Some satellite constellations in LEO such as Starlink and the proposed Telesat constellation will employ laser communication equipment for high-throughput optical inter-satellite links. The interconnected satellites allow for direct routing of user data from satellite to satellite and effectively create

5159-424: The signal having to travel 35,786 km (22,236 mi) to a satellite in geostationary orbit and back to Earth again. Even at the speed of light (about 300,000 km/s or 186,000 miles per second), this delay can appear significant. If all other signaling delays could be eliminated, it still takes a radio signal about 250 milliseconds (ms), or about a quarter of a second, to travel to the satellite and back to

5236-418: The sky to allow for proper line-of-sight (L-O-S) to the satellite. There are four physical characteristic settings used to ensure that the antenna is configured correctly at the satellite, which are: azimuth , elevation, polarization , and skew . The combination of these settings gives the outdoor unit a L-O-S to the chosen satellite and makes data transmission possible. These parameters are generally set at

5313-509: The subscriber-side terminal, and gateway spot beams, which transmit to/from a service provider ground station. Note that moving off the tight footprint of a spotbeam can degrade performance significantly. Also, spotbeams can make the use of other significant new technologies impossible, including 'Carrier in Carrier ' modulation. In conjunction with the satellite's spot-beam technology, a bent-pipe architecture has traditionally been employed in

5390-493: The time the equipment is installed, along with a beam assignment (K a -band only); these steps must all be taken prior to the actual activation of service. Transmit and receive components are typically mounted at the focal point of the antenna which receives/sends data from/to the satellite. The main parts are: The satellite modem serves as an interface between the outdoor unit and customer-provided equipment (i.e. PC, router) and controls satellite transmission and reception. From

5467-538: Was Syncom3 , built by Hughes Aircraft for NASA and launched on August 19, 1963. Succeeding generations of communications satellites featuring larger capacities and improved performance characteristics were adopted for use in television delivery, military applications and telecommunications purposes. Following the invention of the Internet and the World Wide Web, geostationary satellites attracted interest as

5544-540: Was Telstar 1 , built by Bell Labs and launched in July 1962. The idea of a geosynchronous satellite —one that could orbit the Earth above the equator and remain fixed by following the Earth's rotation—was first proposed by Herman Potočnik in 1928 and popularised by the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke in a paper in Wireless World in 1945. The first satellite to successfully reach geostationary orbit

5621-494: Was estimated at £5 billion. In July 2020, the UK government and Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises jointly purchased the bankrupt OneWeb satellite company. The UKSA had advised the government that OneWeb was not suitable as a basis for a satellite navigation system. On 25 September 2020, The Daily Telegraph reported that the United Kingdom Global Navigation Satellite System project had been scrapped. The project, deemed unnecessary and too expensive, will be replaced with

5698-473: Was estimated that the cost of the project would be £5 billion. The United Kingdom government said that it wanted its GNSS to be openly compatible with the United States of America's Global Positioning System (GPS), and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. The USA, and the other Five Eyes nations contributed expertise to assist the planning and construction, and in exchange, these nations would gain access to

5775-406: Was not committed to, with Lord Drayson stating that "We will require a compelling business case for each proposal or mission". The UK Space Agency took over the following responsibilities from other government organisations: On 31 January 2021, The Daily Telegraph reported that following a government "Space Landscape Review" responsibility for space policy and strategy was being transferred to

5852-413: Was to form part of its remit, according to Lord Drayson. Prior to the creation of the agency, the space and satellite industry in the UK was valued at £9 billion and supported 68,000 jobs. The 20-year aim of the agency was to increase the industry to £40 billion and 100,000 jobs, and to represent 10% of worldwide space products and services (increasing from the current 6%). This plan arose from

5929-608: Was to provide a national and independent system, to ensure UK security following its withdrawal from the EU as a result of Brexit . It was fully supported by the Ministry of Defence . In September 2020, the UK GNSS programme concluded; it was relaunched as a new entity, namely the United Kingdom Space Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Programme (UK SBPNTP). With the now universal reliance on

#711288