Coverage
A satellite is like a bikini: If the coverage isn’t adequate, keep shopping.
What is coverage? Also known as a satellite's "footprint", coverage defines the geographical area that can be served by a satellite. Satellites like Horizons-2 transfer uplink signals directly to downlink signals, changing their frequency but not their bandwidth or modulation. Because of this, they are called "bent-pipe" satellites.
Most of the 250 geostationary satellites currently in orbit are of the bent-pipe design and each has a particular footprint for coverage of a land area (some cover the oceans as well).
This illustration shows the EIRP for Horizons-1.
This satellite’s coverage is designed to produce maximum power or EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) without wasting energy over the water or land outside the footprint.
