A satellite ATM network has been envisioned as the next information su
per-skyway. There has been a migration from traditional bent pipe sate
llites to onboard processing) ATM satellites. The current congestion i
n the Internet has motivated th use of alternate paths - using satelli
tes to support global Internet transport and access. This article pres
ents the various system and protocol layer architectures of SATM netwo
rks.