One or more ground stations 506 are in communication with one or more satellites 502. The ground stations 506 may pass data between the satellites 502, a management system 550, networks such as the Internet, and so forth. The ground stations 506 may be emplaced on land, on vehicles, at sea, and so forth. Each ground station 506 may comprise a communication system 540. Each ground station 506 may use the communication system 540 to establish communication with one or more satellites 502, other ground stations 506, and so forth. The ground station 506 may also be connected to one or more communication networks. For example, the ground station 506 may connect to a terrestrial fiber optic communication network. The ground station 506 may act as a network gateway, passing user data 512 or other data between the one or more communication networks and the satellites 502. Such data may be processed by the ground station 506 and communicated via the communication system 540. The communication system 540 of a ground station may include components similar to those of the communication system 528 of a satellite 502 and perform similar communication functionalities. For example, the communication system 540 may include one or more modems, digital signal processors, power amplifiers, antennas (including at least one antenna that implements multiple antenna elements, such as a phased array antenna), processors, memories, storage devices, communications peripherals, interface buses, and so forth.