Ground Station Virtualization: Revolutionizing Satellite Communication in the Cloud-Native Era

From Hardware-Centric Infrastructure to Software-Defined, AI-Native Ground Systems Executive Summary Ground station virtualization (GSV) is transforming the satellite ground segment into a distributed, software-defined, and cloud-orchestrated system-of-systems capable of supporting the scale, complexity, and responsiveness required by next-generation space architectures. As LEO mega-constellations, multi-orbit networks, and latency-sensitive applications proliferate, legacy ground systems—built around fixed-function RF…