Medium earth orbit communications satellite system

A method for providing a signal between a terrestrial node and at least one mission platform via a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellation, comprising the steps of:

• providing the MEO satellite constellation so as to comprise at least a first and a second subconstellation, the first subconstellation comprising at least three satellites having a direct communication crosslink with adjacent satellites in the same subconstellation, for relaying signals received by the first subconstellation in a predetermined manner, the second subconstellation comprising at least three satellites having a direct communication crosslink with adjacent satellites in the same subconstellation, for relaying signals received by the second subconstellation in a predetermined manner, the cross-linked satellites of both of the first and second subconstellations lying in a same orbital plane;
• selecting one of the first and second subconstellations which can relay the signal between the terrestrial node and the at least one mission platform in a manner that minimizes a number of satellite cross-links;
• transmitting the signal from the terrestrial node to the selected one of the subconstellations, the signal carrying at least one downlink command;
• and
• based upon the downlink command, downlinking at least a portion of the signal from the selected subconstellation to the at least one mission platform.

A satellite-based communication system, comprising:

• a terrestrial communication node;
• at least one communication mission platform;
• and
• a plurality of satellite subconstellation, each of the satellite subconstellations comprising a plurality of satellites having a direct communication crosslink with adjacent satellites in the same subconstellation, each of the plurality of cross-linked satellites of both subconstellations orbiting within a same orbital plane, individual ones of the satellites within each respective subconstellation being offset from each of two adjacent satellites of at least one of the other subconstellations by a predetermined angle;
• wherein each cross-linked satellite of each of the subconstellations includes means for bidirectionally communicating with the terrestrial communication node and said at least one communication mission platform while said terrestrial communication node and said at least one communication mission platform are in view of said satellite.