I. Introduction
The ever-growing need for data-rate in satellite communications is promoting the exploitation of millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies, thanks to the large available bandwidth [1], [2]. However, mmWave systems are severely affected by different atmospheric impairments, especially under unfavorable weather conditions. Besides the attenuation due to atmosphere, the satellite radio signal might also suffer from scattering by rain drops, hails, snowflakes, etc, since the wavelength at the mmWave band becomes comparable to the dimension of those objects in the atmosphere. Knowing behavior of propagation channel in the earth–space link is crucial for the system design and development, e.g., to determine the link margin, availability, and quality of service, etc. Therefore, extensive propagation experiments have been reported to understand the channel characteristics [1]–[5].