Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
WordNet
n. an artificial satellite that relays signals back to earth; moves in a geostationary orbit
Wikipedia
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications. There are over 2,000 communications satellites in Earth’s orbit, used by both private and government organizations.
Wireless communication uses electromagnetic waves to carry signals. These waves require line-of-sight, and are thus obstructed by the curvature of the Earth. The purpose of communications satellites is to relay the signal around the curve of the Earth allowing communication between widely separated points. Communications satellites use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies. To avoid signal interference, international organizations have regulations for which frequency ranges or "bands" certain organizations are allowed to use. This allocation of bands minimizes the risk of signal interference.
Usage examples of "communications satellite".
Originally scheduled for a 1988 launch, Zircon was to be disguised as a military communications satellite and was to focus primarily on Europe, Russia, and the Middle East.
I presume everyone here knows that Admiral Forrest has persuaded the local CoDominium Fleet Commander to safeguard our observation and communications satellite.
The buoy operated for over an hour, continuously sending its data to a NATO communications satellite.
Half a mile away a satellite receiver was tracking a Soviet communications satellite.
The corresponding foundation for a communications satellite was essentially a thin steel annulus, a flat, sturdy donut that invariably looked too light for its job.
The take from the electronic cameras was cross-linked to a communications satellite over the Indian Ocean, and from there to the Washington area, where technicians still wearing chemically impregnated surgical masks started looking for the airplane-shaped surface-to-surface missiles.
Every day the tapes the cameras made were uploaded to the Russian communications satellite that spent most of its time hanging over the North Pole—.
The signal went twenty-two thousand miles to a geosynchronous communications satellite, which relayed it back down toward Panama.
The signal was down-linked to Alice Springs in Australia, and from there back up to a USAF communications satellite, which relayed it to North America.
Sitting in his small command center office in the UN building in New York, General Bock read the report relayed by a United Nations communications satellite by Colonel Levant.
Shooting at a fairly stationary target, like a communications satellite, you simplify your aiming problem, but you keep shooting up the same thermal bloom until you lose almost all your energy into the air.