| Year | Milestone | Credit |
| 1926 | First liquid propellant rocket launched by R H Goddard in the USA | |
| 1942 | First successful launch of a V-2 rocket in Germany, which technology led to development of satellite launchers | |
| 1945 | Arthur Clarke publishes his ideas of geostationary satellites for world- wide broadcast | |
| 1957 | Launch of first satellite | Former Soviet Union |
| 1958 | First American satellite launchedFirst voice communication via satellite demonstrated | USA |
| 1960 | First communication satellite (passive) launchedFirst successful launch by DELTA Launch Vehicle First remote sensing satellite TIROS-1 launched | USA |
| 1961 | Formal start of TELSTAR, RELAY, and SYNCOM Programs which led to the beginning of satellite communication as we know it | USA |
| 1962 | First active communication satellite launchedTELSTAR and RELAY satellite launchedFirst trans-Atlantic live television broadcast (TELSTAR-1)RELAY satellite used for live trans-Atlantic television broadcasts of important US events | USA |
| 1963 | SYNCOM 1 and 2 launched to develop technology for geostationary orbit | USA |
| 1964 | First satellite launched into geostationary orbit (SYNCOM-3)INTELSAT founded | USA |
| 1965 | First commercial geostationary satellite system launched (Early Bird: INTELSAT-1) | Comsat, USA |
| 1969 | Global coverage available through INTELSAT-III satellite series | INTELSAT |
| 1972 | First domestic satellite system operational (ANIK)INTERSPUTNIK foundedLandsat-1 (remote sensing) satellite launched | CanadaFormer USSRUSA |
| 1974 | First U.S. domestic communications satellite (WESTAR) | USA |
| 1975 | First use of dual-polarization (INTELSAT-IVA)Launch of first Indian satellite (Arya Bhatt) | INTELSATIndian Space Research Organization (ISRO) |
| 1975 | First successful wide-area direct broadcast demonstrations ( 1 year duration, Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) | USA/India |
| 1975 | First body-stabilized operational communication satellite | RCA/USA |
| 1976 | First mobile communications satellite launched (MARISAT)Indonesia, third country, launches domestic communication satellite system (PALAPA system) | USAIndonesia |
| 1976 | First demonstration of inter-satellite link using LES-8 satellite | USA |
| 1977 | A plan for direct-to-home satellite broadcasts assigned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in regions 1 and 3 (most of the world except Americas). | ITU |
| 1977 | Mobile experiments conducted using ATS-6 | NASA, USA |
| 1978 | Start of GPS introduction | USA |
| 1979 | Inmarsat formation | International Maritime Satellite Organization/IMO/UN |
| 1980 | IMO decides to deploy satellite communications for maritime safety | UN |
| 1981 | First re-useable launch vehicle flight (American Space Shuttle) | USA |
| 1982 | Start of GLONASS introduction | Former Soviet Union |
| 1982 | First civilian mobile satellite system introduced for maritime use | Inmarsat |
| 1983 | ITU direct broadcast plan extended to region 2Beginning of Indian domestic satellite system INSAT | ITUIndia |
| 1984 | First direct-to-home broadcast system operational | Japan |
| 1987 | Successful trials of land mobile communications | Inmarsat |
| 1988 | Launch of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite–1 (IRS-1). [IRS constellation is world’s largest constellation of civilian remote sensing satellites.] | ISRO |
| 1987-89 | An architecture of LEO for mobile satellite communication proposed | University of Surrey, UK |
| 1989-90 | Global mobile communication commercial service extended to land mobile and aeronautical environments | Inmarsat |
| 1990 | First commercial satellite radio broadcast system filed | CD Radio Inc., USA |
| 1990 | First commercial non-GEO hand-held system announced | Motorola/Iridium |
| 1990-91 | Commercial land and aeronautical mobile satellite services (MSS) introduced | Inmarsat |
| 1990-92 | Several organizations/companies propose non-geostationary satellite systems for mobile communications – following Motorola. | Various |
| 1992 | GSM terrestrial mobile system introduced (Architecture used later as basis for mobile satellite systems) | Europe |
| 1992 | Major changes to mobile satellite frequency allocation | ITU (WARC 1992) |
| 1993 | Announcement of first commercial little-LEO satellite system (with secure finance) | Orbital Sciences Corporation – ORBCOMM system; USA |
| 1994 | First non-GEO fixed satellite service system announced (However, the system failed to materialize) | Teledesic Corporation; USA |
| 1994-96 | Several regional ‘super-geostationary’ satellite systems announced | Agrani (Indian Consortium) ; APMT (China/Thailand); ACes; Thuraya, etc. |
| 1995 | GPS navigation system fully operational (Project start: 1973)GLONASS (Start of development 1976) | US GovernmentFormer Soviet Union |
| 1996 | Satellite paging services announced | Inmarsat |
| 1997 | Desktop-sized mobile terminals introduced | Inmarsat |
| 1997 | First non-geostationary little-LEO satellite system introduced | ORBCOMM |
| 1997 | Frequency allocation for non-GEO fixed system | WRC 1997 |
| 1997 | Launch of first batch of LEO satellite system for voice communications (so called ‘big-LEO’) | Iridium |
| 1997 | Launch of first batch of non-geostationary satellite system for low bit rate data communications (‘little-LEO’) | ORBCOMM |
| 1997 | Mobile experiments conducted using ACTS | NASA |
| 1997 | Navigation system : geostationary overlay capability available | Inmarsat |
| 1997-98 | Start of world-wide spot beam operation for MSS | Inmarsat |
| 1998 | Introduction of first big-LEO satellite system | Iridium |
| 1998 | Introduction of dual-mode satellite-terrestrial handsets (i.e., combined satellite and terrestrial handset) | Iridium |
| 1998 | Safety of life at sea (SOLAS) treaty introduced | UN |
| 1998 | Introduction of extensive on-board processing satellites for MSS | Iridium |
| 1999-2000 | Serious financial difficulty experienced by new and proposed non-GEO MSS systemsIntroduction of Globalstar | IridiumGlobalstar |
| 2000-05 | Consolidation of new mobile satellite system operators despite financial losses | Various |
| 2005 | Launch of Inmarsat 4 – first L band high throughput mobile satellite | Inmarsat |
| 2005 | Introduction of wide-band portable land mobile communication system | Inmarsat |
| 2006-2008 | Extension of portable broadband system to mobile platforms | Inmarsat |
| 2008 onwards | Growing trend of FSS satellite system usage in mobile environment (maritime/aeronautical) | |
| 2009-10 | Announcement of next generation systems | Inmarsat, Iridium, Globalstar, ORBCOMM |
| 2009 | LightSquared proposes ATC services in USA (Satellite-terrestrial hybrid system) | LightSquared |
| 2011 | Launch of Viasat-1 : Beginning of High Throughput Satellite fixed satellite service era | Built on Space Systems/Loral |
| 2012 | ATC service license suspended in USA due to interference issues to GPS | LightSquared |
| 2012 -15 | Escalation of mobile usage in FSS band due to growing demands | Worldwide |
| 2014 | Introduction of Ka band mobile broadband | Inmarsat |
| 2015 | Start of India’s Satellite-based augmentation system (GAGAN) | Indian Government |
| 2015 | Introduction of first medium Earth orbit satellite communication system for space segment capacity lease | O3b, USA |
| 2015 | Revival of dense (mega) LEO constellation concept through several announcement for global Internet provision | |
| 2015 | Roll out of world’s first Ka band civil mobile satellite system | Inmarsat |
| 2017 | LEO Next generation broadband L-band system roll out begins | Iridium |
| 2017 | Space X an American company begins commercial use of first stage reusable launchers | Space X |
| 2017-18 | Proposals for Internet provision to masses via dense constellation of low earth orbiting satellites report tangible progress | e.g., One-Web (620 satellites/1120 km orbital altitude); Space-X (4425 satellites/1100-1300 km orbital altitude) |
