ABSTRACT
Current US government use of satellite communications is categorized into two major areas, military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) and commercial satellite communications. MILSATCOM is made up of satellites built by contracted commercial companies for dedicated military use. Satellite communications are still critical to national security and nearly invaluable, but unlike remote sensing or missile warning, it is a category whose loss could be somewhat mitigated. Some degree of global military communications capability could remain by relying on undersea cables and by bouncing radio signals off the ionosphere. The Communications Satellite Act created the legal structure for the initial commercialization of space. Hosted payloads are government sensors or communications packages that are integrated into a commercial satellite. These payloads share the basic support functions of the parent satellite while providing a unique capability that the commercial provider would otherwise not include on the satellite.
