Satellite Communications Glossary

Earth-coverage Beam.  The radiation patterns of Earth-coverage antennas have a beamwidth of approximately 17°.

Earthlink.  Earthlink provides access to satellite as well as terrestrial ISP services.

Earthlink dial-up Internet access.  Earthlink dial-up Internet access provides access to dial-up Internet services.

Earthlink DSL.  Earthlink DSL provides access to DSL-based ISP services.

Earthlink web.  Earthlink web services provides access to Internet web services.

Earthlink webmail.  Earthlink webmail provides a web-based access to e-mail services.

Echo.  On 12 August 1960, in conjunction with Bell Telephone Laboratories and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA launched a passive reflector, Echo I: a 30-m plastic balloon (weighing 61.2 kg) with an aluminium coating. The balloon had 82 panels that were folded before launch and inflated in orbit.

Elevation Angle.  The elevation angle is the angle of the satellite above the horizon from the Earth station.

Ellipso.  Ellipso will use two coordinated constellations of satellites, Borealis and Concordia. The Concordia orbit will have seven satellites and the Borealis orbit will have ten satellites. Concordia will focus on the bulk of the world's population between 50 degrees south to 50 degrees north.

Equatorial Orbit.  When the satellite rotates in an orbit above the equator, it is called an equatorial orbit.

Explorer I.  Shortly after Sputnik, the US Army launched the first US artificial satellite, Explorer I, on 31 January 1958 by the US Army. Explorer was a 2-m, 14-kg cylinder that remained in an orbit between 360 km and 2,550 km for nearly five months.

Extremely high frequency (EHF).  The extremely-high-frequency (EHF) band is a radio-frequency (RF) frequency in the band 3-30 GHz. Many satellite communications frequencies are in EHF.

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