Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation
Also known as: LEO constellation, satellite mega-constellation, LEO satellite internet
A low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation is a large network of satellites orbiting a few hundred to about 2,000 kilometres above Earth, working together to provide services such as internet access.
Because they're much closer than traditional satellites, they offer far lower delay. SpaceX's Starlink is the best-known example, with roughly 10,000 working satellites by mid-2026. While LEO constellations have brought fast internet to remote places, they also crowd orbit, brighten the night sky for astronomers, and concentrate power in a few companies.
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, explained at three levels
At home
Think of a relay race where runners hand off a baton as they pass. A LEO constellation works the same way: thousands of satellites circle a few hundred kilometres up, each crossing the sky in minutes. Your home dish sends data to whichever satellite is in view, and that satellite passes it down to a ground station connected to the internet. With so many satellites, a fresh one is always arriving.
At work
A LEO constellation is a fleet of satellites orbiting roughly 500 to 1,200 kilometres up that together act as one network. Because the satellites are close, signals travel a short distance, so connections feel like ground broadband rather than old satellite service. For mines, farms, ships, and remote communities, that means video calls, cloud apps, and payment systems can work where no fibre or cell tower reaches.
At home
Each satellite crosses your sky in a few minutes, so a LEO dish is a flat phased-array antenna that steers its beam electronically, tracking one satellite and hopping to the next without moving. Data then reaches the internet one of two ways: the satellite beams it down to a nearby ground station, or newer Starlink satellites relay it over laser links to another satellite first. The short path keeps delay around 25 to 60 milliseconds, against roughly 600 for geostationary service.
At work
A LEO network has three parts: user terminals, the satellites, and ground stations, called gateways, that connect to the internet. The service area is divided into cells, and each satellite beam gives a cell a fixed amount of capacity shared by everyone in it, so a busy cell slows down. Laser links between satellites let traffic cross oceans and the Arctic without a nearby gateway. Business plans differ mainly in priority data, which puts your traffic first when a cell is congested.
At home
Low orbits are cheap to reach and fast to use, but the thin upper atmosphere still drags on satellites, so they slowly lose height and need thrusters to stay up. Most are built to last about five years and then burn up on re-entry. While that self-cleaning orbit limits long-lived junk, it also means constant replacement launches, more re-entry pollution, and more streaks across astronomers' images. In my view, LEO internet is a subscription to a never-ending launch schedule.
At work
Constellations are licensed by national regulators, such as ISED Canada, with frequencies coordinated through the International Telecommunication Union. The main weakness is concentration: one operator owns the satellites, gateways, and software, and can change terms or coverage at will. Failure modes include cell congestion, gateway outages, solar storms that increase drag, and a heavy collision-avoidance workload. Canada's Telesat Lightspeed is partly a sovereignty answer. For critical sites, I'd pair LEO with a second, independent connection.
Real-world examples
At home
Carlos lives on a farm in northern Saskatchewan where internet used to be painfully slow. After installing a LEO satellite dish, he could stream hockey games and work remotely on video calls.
At work
Lena is an IT manager for a mining company in Nunavut. Switching remote camps to LEO satellite internet let workers use cloud safety apps and video-chat with family, and cut costs compared with older satellite contracts.
How it compares
| feature | Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation | Geostationary orbit (GEO) |
|---|---|---|
| Altitude | About 300 to 2,000 km | About 35,786 km |
| Latency | Tens of milliseconds | About 600 ms round trip |
| Satellites needed | Hundreds to thousands | A few for wide coverage |
| Satellite lifespan | About 5 years | 15 years or more |
LEO is fast but needs many satellites. GEO covers more with fewer, at higher delay.
For analysts
For remote operations, LEO internet can transform what's possible, but it creates vendor concentration. I'd keep a backup connection and review service terms on capacity, outages, and pricing changes.
History & origin
Iridium launched a 66-satellite LEO constellation for satellite phones in 1998, and went bankrupt in 1999 before being revived. Teledesic, backed by Bill Gates in the 1990s, planned hundreds of internet satellites but never launched them. Cheaper launches and mass-produced satellites changed the economics in the 2010s. OneWeb launched its first satellites in 2019, and SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites that year, opening public service in 2020. SpaceX reported more than 10 million Starlink subscribers by March 2026. Amazon's Project Kuiper began launching production satellites in 2025 and was renamed Amazon Leo that November, and Canada's Telesat is building its Lightspeed constellation. In my view, LEO internet is one of the most consequential changes for rural Canada in decades, and one of the least regulated.