Q: What is a communications satellite?

A: A communications satellite is a man-made spacecraft placed in orbit around the Earth to facilitate telecommunications. It acts as a repeater, receiving signals from one point on Earth and relaying them to another.

Q: What are communications satellites used for?

A: Their primary use is for satellite communication. This includes relaying and amplifying radio telecommunication signals for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications.

Q: Are there different types of communications satellites?

A: Yes, there are many types. They can be categorized by their purpose, such as military (e.g., Skynet, Strela), commercial (e.g., Hot Bird, Galaxy), national (e.g., Anik, GSAT), or even amateur radio satellites. They also operate in different orbits and are often part of larger constellations or series.

communications satellite

artificial satellite designed for telecommunications

Class type of: artificial satellite of the Earth Q149918

Facts

8 properties

Instance of: spacecraft type
Subclass of: artificial satellite of the Earth
Has use: satellite communication^[3]
Described by source: Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. 5^[5]
EntitySchema for this class: E532
On focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4^[7]
Topic has template: Template:Infobox communications satellite^[6]
Unicode character: 🛰^[4]

🏷️ Also known as

en communication satellites en communication satellite en SATCOM en communications satellite en comsat en comm sat en communications satellites ar قمر اصطناعي للاتصالات ar قمر اتصالات ar الاتصالات عبر الأقمار الصناعية ar قمر صناعي للاتصالات cs telekomunikační družice da kommunikationssatellit de Fernmeldesatellit de TV-Satellit de Synchronsatellit de Nachrichtensatellit de Satellitenübertragung de Telekommunikationssatellit el τηλεπικοινωνιακός δορυφόρος

🔖 Identifiers · 32

Library of Congress authority ID: sh85008244
GND ID: 4164812-2
OpenAlex ID: C121308736
Image (Wikimedia Commons): AFSATCOM diagram.PNG ↗
Art & Architecture Thesaurus ID: 300212700
Australian Educational Vocabulary ID: scot/4114
BBC News topic ID: c2y91pley79t
BBC Things ID: add288e1-f621-4333-ae2b-dbe50a884ea8
BabelNet ID: 00021228n
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID: topic/communications-satellite
EuroVoc ID: 30
Freebase ID: /m/0c98h

Show all 32 identifiers +20

Great Russian Encyclopedia Online ID (2017): 4160768
Harper's tag: artificial-satellites-in-telecommunication
Hindustan Times topic ID: communication-satellite
Iconclass notation: 46E672
JSTOR topic ID (archived): satellite-transmission, communications-satellites
KBpedia ID: CommunicationsSatellite
Krugosvet article (archived): nauka_i_tehnika/transport_i_svyaz/SPUTNIK_SVYAZI.html
MIL-STD-2525 Symbol Identification Code: 10010500001111000000, 10010500001206000000
MetaSat ID: communicationsSatellite
Microsoft Academic ID (discontinued): 121308736, 2909878251
NDL Authority ID: 00573540
National Library of Israel J9U ID: 987007294962805171
Nomenclature for Museum Cataloging: 11739
Quora topic ID: Communication-Satellites, Comsat
Topic's main category: Category:Communications satellites
UNESCO Thesaurus ID: concept3067
Vikidia article ID: fr:Satellite_de_télécommunications
WordNet 3.1 Synset ID: 03081745-n
YSO ID: 5595
Yale LUX ID: concept/6db1ab73-3cb0-4d32-823d-ddca5d8d16c9

Report an error or request removal Lineage (PROV-JSON)

🔗 Connections

Examples 1033

Omid, Telstar 1, SCORE, Azerspace-1, Kalpana-1, Courier 1B, Queqiao-1, Artemis +1025 more

Subtypes 105

direct-broadcast satellite, Hot Bird, Iridium satellite constellation, Molniya, Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, AMOS, Palapa, Skynet +97 more

← Used by 8

R-4D, Alphabus, AprizeSat, ARSAT-3K, AMOS, ARSAT-3E, ARSAT-3H, GeoBus

← Product or material produced 7

S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, Inmarsat, SES S.A., China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited, COMSAT, Loral Space & Communications, Sino Satellite Communications Co.,Ltd.

← Category contains 3

Category:Communications satellites, Category:Communications satellites in geostationary orbit, Category:Communications satellites in low Earth orbit

← Category combines topics 2

Category:Communications satellite operators, Category:Communications satellites in geostationary orbit

← Has part(s) of the class 2

Starlink, Amazon Leo

← Uses 2

satellite television, satellite communication

Has use 1

satellite communication

On focus list of Wikimedia project 1

Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4

Subclass of 1

artificial satellite of the Earth

Topic has template 1

Template:Infobox communications satellite

Topic's main category 1

Category:Communications satellites

← Category's main topic 1

Category:Communications satellites

← Facet of 1

satellite communication

← Has use 1

ELiTeBus-1000

← Template has topic 1

Template:Infobox communications satellite

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Summary

communications satellite is a spacecraft type^[1]. It is a type of artificial satellite of the Earth^[2].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

Class ancestry

[1] ↑ communications satellite is an instance of spacecraft type (Q131610589) [P31, primary]. Wikidata. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA

4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). communications satellite. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/communications-satellite

MLA

“communications satellite.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 1 Nov. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/communications-satellite.

BibTeX

@misc{4ortxyz_communications-satellite_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{communications satellite}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/communications-satellite}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-01}}

LLM prompt

According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): communications satellite — https://4ort.xyz/entity/communications-satellite (retrieved 2026-11-01)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/communications-satellite · Last refreshed: November 1, 2026

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

5w ago · Printstream · 2026-09-27 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Wikipedia languages → ['ar', 'ast', 'az', 'ba', 'be', 'bg', 'bn', 'bs', 'ca', 'ckb', 'cs', 'de', 'el',

GND ID → 4164812-2

Sitelink count → 68

Claims rich → —

"/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/56529|batch #56529]]: Import GNDs from dewiki"
11w ago · Olea · 2026-08-16 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Harper's tag → artificial-satellites-in-telecommunication

EntitySchema for this class → E532

"/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ EntitySchema for this class: artificial satellite of the Earth, Copying from artificial satellite of the Earth"

Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.