Satellite communications networking

A satellite communications network, comprising:

• a plurality of satellites interconnected by a plurality of satellite-to-satellite communication links, each of the plurality of satellites being configured to communicate with at least one of a plurality of ground stations using respective ground-satellite communication links;
• said at least one of a plurality of ground stations being configured for transmitting at least one respective routing table to each of a subset of said satellites, each routing table comprising a list of destination satellites of the plurality of satellites and, for each individual destination satellite, definitions of at least two possible routes leading to it, the definition of a route comprising an ordered list of interconnected satellites of the plurality of satellites, linking a source satellite of the plurality of satellites to the destination satellite;
• each particular one of the plurality of satellites being configured to:
• detect a problem communication link, the problem communication link comprising either a problem with the particular one of the plurality of satellites' ability to communicate with one of the plurality of ground stations using one of the plurality of ground-satellite communication links, or a problem with the particular satellite's ability to communicate with others of the plurality of satellites using one of the satellite-to-satellite communication links;
• and
• send an alert message to at least some of the other satellites, said alert message identifying said problem communication link as problematic;
• and
• each of the at least some of the others of the plurality of satellites being configured to route subsequent data packets through said communication network using its routing table to avoid the problem communication link, in response to receiving the alert message.

A component of a satellite configured for incorporation within a satellite communications network having a plurality of satellites interconnected by a plurality of satellite-to-satellite communication links, each of the plurality of satellites being configured to communicate with at least one of a plurality of ground stations using respective ground-satellite communication links, said component including logic elements configured to:

• store a data structure that identifies different possible destinations in the satellite communications network and defines, for each of multiple of the identified destinations, multiple different routes for routing data from the satellite to the destination;
• receive an indication of a problem in the satellite communications network;
• determine that the problem in the satellite communications network impacts a first one of the routes defined in the data structure for routing data from the satellite to a particular destination;
• update the data structure to reflect that the first route for routing data from the satellite to the destination has been impacted by a problem;
• receive data to be routed from the satellite to the particular destination in the satellite communications network;
• access the data structure;
• determine, based on accessing the data structure, that the first route for routing data from the satellite to the particular destination has been impacted by a problem;
• and
• in response to determining that the first route for routing data from the satellite to the particular destination has been impacted by a problem, select a second route for routing data from the satellite to the particular destination from the different routes for routing data from the satellite to the destination defined in the data structure.