Glossary
Definitions
3 definitions
Network Operations Centre (NOC)
The facility responsible for real-time monitoring, management, and troubleshooting of a satellite network — tracking performance metrics across all terminals and gateways, allocating bandwidth on demand, managing interference, and coordinating maintenance windows.
New Space
The wave of commercial, venture-capital-backed space companies — SpaceX, Planet Labs, Rocket Lab, Spire, AST SpaceMobile — that from around 2010 disrupted the traditional 'Old Space' government-contractor model by applying agile software development practices, COTS components, and mass production to spacecraft and launch vehicles.
Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)
A 3GPP-standardised framework integrating satellite and High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) into the 5G network architecture, enabling standard smartphones to connect directly to satellites without specialised hardware — the foundation for Direct-to-Cell services.