Elliptical orbit satellite, system, and deployment with controllable coverage characteristics

An inclined elliptic satellite system and tracking system, comprising:

• a plurality of satellites in an inclined elliptic orbit, each of said satellites including communication equipment thereon;
• at least one Earth station on the earth having at least one ground antenna operable to track said satellites orbiting around the earth, communicating with said plurality of satellites, said earth station including means for determining a position of each satellite relative to another satellite, and for commanding communication with a different satellite when said position would otherwise interfere with said another satellite:
• a second plurality of satellites, in a circular or slightly elliptical orbit which is lower than geosynchronous,
• wherein said at least one Earth station is located at a location where the low Earth orbit satellite will always appear in a field of view at a position which is lower than locations of equatorial geosynchronous satellites, by an amount of separation at least equal to a width of a beam used to communicate with the satellites;
• and
• communicating with said satellites with a beam width equal to or smaller than said amount of separation.

A method of communicating between ground stations fixed on Earth and a constellation of satellites orbiting around the Earth, comprising:

• deploying a plurality of satellites orbiting around the earth in a predetermined constellation;
• distributing a plurality of ground stations for tracking, telemetry and control at selected station locations relative to one another in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, each of said ground stations having at least one ground antenna that can be orientated to track satellites by illuminating a radio beam thereon, said station locations and said constellation being so determined that each and every of said satellites is always in view of at least one of said ground stations;
• determining whether a first radio beam emitted from a first ground antenna of said ground stations that illuminates a first satellite in said constellation could interfere with a transmission to another satellite;
• and
• ceasing said first radio beam to said first satellite when said first radio beam is determined to interfere.