In this paper, an adaptive RSSD(reduced-state sequence detection) receiver is proposed for the purpose of reducing the complexity and decision delay of the adaptive MLSD(maximum-likelihood sequence detection) receiver in the mobile satellite channel. The RSSD receiver reconstructs the trellis with a reduced number of states. The performance degradation due to the reduced states is compensated by modifying the branch metric calculation which uses the symbols in each path memory to estimate the residual ISI(intersymbol interference) terms. The structure of the proposed adaptive RSSD is a modified RSSD utilizing a per-survivor processing as well as the symbol-aided method and a channel estimation using the tentative data sequences. The complexity and performance of the proposed adaptive RSSD are controlled by the number of system states and ISI cancelers and the inserting period of the known symbols. In spite of a suboptimal alternative receiver compared to the adaptive MLSD receiver, the proposed adaptive RSSD receiver is able to reduce the complexity significantly and track the time-varying channel fast and reliably.