Very-small-aperture terminal

The concept of the geostationary orbit was originated by Russian theorist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who wrote articles on space travel around the beginning of the 20th century.

[2] Arthur C. Clarke's October 1945 Wireless World article (called "Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?")

In the early 1980s, LINKABIT (the predecessor to Qualcomm and ViaSat) developed the world's first Ku-band (12–14 GHz) VSAT for Schlumberger to provide network connectivity for oil field drilling and exploration units.

LINKABIT which had become part of M/A-COM went on to develop Ku band VSATs for enterprise customers such as Walmart, Holiday Inn, Chrysler, and General Motors.

[6] Most VSAT networks are configured in one of these topologies: Advances in technology have dramatically improved the price–performance ratio of fixed satellite service (FSS) over the past five years.

New VSAT systems are coming online using Ka band technology that promise higher data rates for lower costs.

FSS systems provide various applications for subscribers, including: telephony, fax, television, high-speed data communication services, Internet access, satellite news gathering (SNG), Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and others.

For large antennas there are also mechanical struts that prevent them to move due to strong winds, losing the pointing and causing service interruption A maritime VSAT has features that allow it to be operated on a ship at sea.

SeaTel dominates the supply of two-way VSAT stabilised antenna systems to the marine industry with almost 72% of the market in 2007 compared to Orbit's 17.6%.

The major companies market share in terms of number of vessels in service were in 2009 (2007 in parentheses) according to these reports: Vizada: 17.6% (26.0%), Ship Equip: 11.0% (10.7%), Cap Rock 2.8% (2.9%), MTN 7.5% (6.4%), Stratos - % (3.6%), KVH 5.4% (- %) Elektrikom 4.9% (3.2%), Intelsat 3.4% (- %), Eutelsat 3.1%, NSSL 3.1%, Radio Holland 3.0%, Telemar 3.0%, DTS 2.6% and others accounted for 32.6% (27.7%).