Today’s Atlas launch heralded an end of an era:
Younes suggested that those future data relay satellites might be owned and operated by commercial entities rather than NASA. “NASA’s optimum goal is to push the technology to enable the commercial sector such that these services can be provided by commercial providers, and NASA will not need in the future to build these kinds of capabilities,” he said. “They can become a user, like any other user.”
In general, NASA needs to move to procuring services, rather than hardware.
I’m going to suggest we need to move beyond traditional comsats entirely. Instead, larger, higher power communication platforms should be in geostationary orbit, upgraded and repaired as needed. This likely means putting a space station in GEO. Shielding would be needed against galactic cosmic rays and outer Van Allen belt electrons, but I think at least the latter could be deflected with fairly modest magnetic shielding.
Yes, and I’ve been preaching this for decades, but only now is it becoming economically feasible.
I disagree. I think the coming era is one in which LEO comsats and small, low-cost flat phased array antennas will displace a lot of current civilian GEO capacity oriented toward small-aperture dishes. GEO will never be unimportant, but its importance to the market for comm will diminish. Even a lot of current military missions based in GEO will likely transition to more numerous platforms in lower orbits. From a military standpoint, concentrating assets in GEO is exactly the wrong way to go. The economic case for a permanent manned presence in GEO will diminish instead of increase.