Methods and systems for operating a high throughput satellite

A high throughput satellite having a first operating mode and a second operating mode, comprising:

• a plurality of downlink spot beams;
• and
• a digital processor to
• operate the satellite in the first operating mode, wherein during the first operating mode the satellite employs at least one technique selected from
• color re-use in accordance with a first color re-use pattern,
• intra-beam geographic sub-division of one or more spot beams into an inner region and an outer region, wherein outer region uses a color re-use pattern having more colors than are used in the inner region, or
• precoding downlink signals onboard the satellite through application of a complex weighting vector to symbols in the downlink transmission for at least one of the spot beams;
• determine that a spectrum fill rate exceeds a first threshold;
• and
• based on the determination that the spectrum fill rate exceeds the first threshold, automatically operate the satellite in the second operating mode, wherein during the second operating mode the satellite additionally employs another of the at least one techniques.

A network operations center for controlling operation of a high throughput satellite in orbit, the satellite having a plurality of downlink spot beams and having a first operating mode and a second operating mode, the network operations center comprising:

• a high speed telemetry and command link to the satellite;
• at least one processor;
• and
• memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the processor to:
• instruct the satellite to operate in the first operating mode, wherein during the first operating mode the satellite employs at least one technique selected from
• color re-use in accordance with a first color re-use pattern,
• intra-beam geographic sub-division of one or more spot beams into an inner region and an outer region, wherein outer region uses a color re-use pattern having more colors than are used in the inner region, or
• precoding downlink signals onboard the satellite through application of a complex weighting vector to symbols in the downlink transmission for at least one of the spot beams;
• determine that a spectrum fill rate exceeds a first threshold;
• and
• based on the determination that the spectrum fill rate exceeds the first threshold, automatically instruct the satellite to operate in the second operating mode, wherein during the second operating mode the satellite additionally employs another of the at least one techniques.