By Ron Faith
At RBC Signals, we are excited to support the growing diversity of satellite missions that extend well beyond traditional communications and Earth observation. Today, our network enables a wide range of capabilities, including rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), signals intelligence (SIGINT), orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs), and satellite Internet of Things (IoT). One of the most exciting emerging mission types we are seeing is the deployment of data centers in orbit.
As with other advanced satellite platforms, orbital data centers bring unique communications requirements. These systems will operate across multiple orbital regimes—including sun-synchronous, mid-latitude, and equatorial orbits—as well as at varying altitudes such as LEO, MEO, GEO, and even cis-lunar space. While each configuration presents distinct challenges, they also share several foundational needs.
First, telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) remain essential. Although intersatellite links may handle portions of TT&C, resilient mission operations will still require reliable ground connectivity. Fortunately, TT&C data rates remain relatively modest, allowing continued use of established frequency bands such as S-band, X-band, and even UHF/VHF.
The more complex challenge lies in data ingress and egress. Orbital data centers will likely require data transfer volumes that are orders of magnitude greater than those of traditional satellites. Latency requirements will also vary by application, driving demand for higher-capacity communications technologies. As a result, higher-frequency RF bands and optical communications are becoming increasingly important.
Optical intersatellite links have already demonstrated multi-gigabit-per-second performance. Delivering that data to the ground, however, introduces additional complexity. Unlike space-to-space optical links, optical downlinks must pass through Earth’s atmosphere, where scattering and scintillation can degrade performance. Another major consideration is terrestrial backhaul. Many ideal optical ground station locations are remote, and provisioning multi-gigabit fiber connectivity can be both technically challenging and costly.
At RBC Signals, we are encouraged by the rapid advances in high-frequency RF and optical communications. We are actively integrating these next-generation capabilities into our global ground station network to ensure we are ready to support the extraordinary opportunities enabled by orbital data centers—and the transformative impact they will have for humanity.