The authors discuss many satellite communications systems and technology concepts that can be expected by the year 2000. Challenges and changes that are taking place in the commercial market place are discussed. Technology advances that promise to enable future communications satellites to capture their share of the future marketplace are discussed. Current, near-term, and far-term technologies are discussed.>

Europe has so far launched four experimental and six operational communications satellites successfully. Fifteen more spacecraft are scheduled to be launched before the end of 1990. As everywhere in the world, requirements for new telecommunications services are emerging very rapidly, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the planned developments in terrestrial networks (ISDN, radio cellular networks) will fail to meet all the needs adequately, either in scope or in time scale. Against this background, it is shown that satellites of conventional design, carrying transparent payloads, are well suited to satisfying many of the new requirements in the short term. For the longer term, i.e., from the year 2000 onwards, innovative system concepts are being developed in which the satellite is called upon to perform more sophisticated functions requiring very advanced antennas, on-board processing, and intersatellite links.