Comparative Analysis of LEO Satellite Constellation Architectures for Earth Observation and Communication Missions

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have become a fundamental component of modern space infrastructure, enabling a wide range of applications including broadband communications, Earth observation, environmental monitoring, navigation, and disaster management. The rapid deployment of large-scale constellations by both governmental and commercial organizations has significantly transformed the design philosophy of satellite systems and mission architectures. However, differences in constellation configurations, orbital parameters, coverage strategies, latency, scalability, and operational costs have created new challenges for selecting the most appropriate architecture for specific mission objectives.This review paper presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of major LEO satellite constellation architectures with a focus on communication and Earth observation missions. The study examines representative constellations, including Starlink, OneWeb, Project Kuiper, and several Earth observation systems, by comparing their orbital characteristics, network topology, coverage capability, revisit time, communication latency, deployment strategies, and system scalability. Furthermore, critical engineering challenges such as space debris mitigation, collision avoidance, spectrum management, cybersecurity, and long-term sustainability are discussed.The analysis highlights the trade-offs between communication-oriented and Earth observation-oriented constellation designs and demonstrates that no single architecture is universally optimal for all mission requirements. Communication constellations prioritize continuous global coverage and low latency, whereas Earth observation constellations emphasize high revisit frequency and imaging performance. Finally, future trends including optical inter-satellite links, autonomous constellation management, artificial intelligence-assisted operations, and sustainable satellite deployment strategies are reviewed to provide insights into the next generation of LEO satellite systems.

کلیدواژه ها:

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) ، Satellite Constellation ، Earth Observation ، Broadband Communication ، OneWeb ، Project Kuiper ، Space Systems Engineering