Patent ID: 8135338

Claim:
A method for enhancing a payload capacity of a satellite system, the method comprising: receiving data from a user over a communications link between the user and a first satellite, said first satellite being one of a plurality of satellites within the satellite system; forwarding said data over a crosslink from the first satellite to at least a second satellite within the satellite system; and forwarding said data from the second satellite by a first feeder link to a terrestrial gateway, said first feeder link operating within a feeder link frequency band, said gateway being communicatively coupled to a terrestrial data network, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving data from the user at a data rate greater than 30 Mbps by an antenna on the first satellite, said antenna being configured to: operate at a frequency within the feeder link frequency band; receive data from the user when in view of the user; and complete a second feeder link to the terrestrial gateway when in view of the terrestrial gateway.