Patent attributes
A communication system has a plurality of LEO satellites in a specified orbital plane and a plurality of trunk satellites in a medium earth orbit. Each LEO satellite acquires satellite-specific data and includes inter-satellite links with adjacent LEO satellites. Each trunk satellite includes inter-satellite links adjacent trunk satellites. One of the trunk satellites operates as a relay trunk satellite in position to maintain optical communication with a specified ground station on the Earth. Each LEO satellite has a limited field of regard to establish optical communication with any trunk satellite. A relay LEO satellite is configured to establish optical communication with a corresponding trunk satellite. The plurality of LEO satellites relay aggregated data to the relay LEO satellite. The relay LEO satellite relays the aggregated data to the corresponding trunk satellite. The relay trunk satellite relays the received aggregated data to the corresponding ground station.
