US Patent 11916652 Method of, and apparatus for, improved satellite communications

There is provided a satellite network for data communication, the network comprising a plurality of satellites arranged in medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial user terminal and comprising at least one communications antenna operable to generate a spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial region to enable said one or more terrestrial user terminals to receive and/or send data via the spot beam. The plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover the same terrestrial region at any one time.