A method to enable a satellite to position its antenna, the method comprising: receiving, at each of a plurality of ground measurement terminals , a respective one of a plurality of downlink spot beam signals transmitted over a plurality of spot beams from the satellite (105-b), each of the spot beams associated with a specific coverage area ; receiving, at each ground measurement terminal, a wide beam downlink signal transmitted over a wide area beam from the satellite, the wide area beam associated with a coverage area that includes each of the spot beams; measuring, at each ground measurement terminal, a respective signal strength of the respective received downlink spot beam; measuring, at each ground measurement terminal, a respective signal strength of the received wide area beam; and transmitting, from each ground measurement terminal to a processing station , the two respective signal strength measurements or a respective normalized signal strength measurement of the respective received downlink spot beam obtained by comparing the respective signal strength measurement of the respective received downlink spot beam to the respective signal strength measurement of the received wide area beam; generating, at the processing station, azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals using the signal strength measurements received from the ground measurement terminals; generating, at an uplink beacon station , an uplink beacon signal; transmitting the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals from the processing station to the satellite; and transmitting the uplink beacon signal from the uplink beacon station to the satellite, thereby enabling the satellite to generate azimuth and elevation antenna pointing error signals using a measurement of the uplink beacon signal, and thereby enabling the satellite to position an antenna of the satellite based at least in part on the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing error signals and the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals. receiving, at each of a plurality of ground measurement terminals , a respective one of a plurality of downlink spot beam signals transmitted over a plurality of spot beams from the satellite (105-b), each of the spot beams associated with a specific coverage area ; receiving, at each ground measurement terminal, a wide beam downlink signal transmitted over a wide area beam from the satellite, the wide area beam associated with a coverage area that includes each of the spot beams; measuring, at each ground measurement terminal, a respective signal strength of the respective received downlink spot beam; measuring, at each ground measurement terminal, a respective signal strength of the received wide area beam; and transmitting, from each ground measurement terminal to a processing station , the two respective signal strength measurements or a respective normalized signal strength measurement of the respective received downlink spot beam obtained by comparing the respective signal strength measurement of the respective received downlink spot beam to the respective signal strength measurement of the received wide area beam; generating, at the processing station, azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals using the signal strength measurements received from the ground measurement terminals; generating, at an uplink beacon station , an uplink beacon signal; transmitting the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals from the processing station to the satellite; and transmitting the uplink beacon signal from the uplink beacon station to the satellite, thereby enabling the satellite to generate azimuth and elevation antenna pointing error signals using a measurement of the uplink beacon signal, and thereby enabling the satellite to position an antenna of the satellite based at least in part on the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing error signals and the azimuth and elevation antenna pointing bias signals. <EOS>