Rocco Fanucci's blog

Live Via WiMAX

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:40:06 -0700

Atop Snow King mountain in Idaho, sits a new radio tower providing Internet access using new WiMAX technology. But it can do more than that.

KIFI-TV announced back in May a pioneering way of electronic news gathering that doesn't use microwave or satellite to get the live feed back to the studio:

KIFI News Group calls it WiNG or Wireless Internet News Gathering. KIFI News Group General Manager, Mark Danielson, says, "The WiNG project is based on using the Internet to send content (video and sound) from the scene of a news event back to the station for LIVE broadcast on its television stations and web sites. Danielson says, “The breakthrough is the ability for KIFI field crews to send near Broadcast Quality LIVE shots over wireless Internet."
Danielson says, "WiNG allows KIFI News Group the capability to bring its customers breaking news and information from locations that have never been accessible to routine live news gathering. What KIFI News Group has developed with DigitalBridge Communications has the potential to revolutionize news gathering.” As WiMAX is deployed across the country, Danielson says he expects ordinary news vehicles to turn into fleets of Wireless Internet News Gathering vehicles – allowing for more aggressive coverage of late breaking news and weather events. Danielson says, “In the end, consumers will win as their hunger for breaking news and weather is satisfied by faster access to breaking news from aggressive media companies like his.”

TVNewsday filed this report earlier today on how this could truly be the new scheme for live reports, especially for stations on a tight budget:

Pioneering work on adapting WiMAX for ENG is now underway at KIFI, News-Press & Gazette's ABC affiliate in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
And so far the fourth-generation wireless broadband access service is showing a lot of promise.
"This opens up a whole new world," says Mark Danielson, general manager of the KIFI News Group, who has dubbed its system Wireless Internet News Gathering or, simply, WING.
Unlike so-called third-generation, high-speed mobile technologies like EVDO, WiMAX can provide enough upstream bandwidth for live video.
It's not the best, but it is "definitely acceptable," says Danielson. "Most viewers probably couldn't tell you we're doing anything different."
Danielson can tell you about the difference in cost. Satellite is out of the question for the nation's 163rd largest market. Outfitting a microwave truck costs about $200,000.
But KIFI spent just $12,000 to equip a Toyota Highlander SUV with the necessary hardware and software to send video via WiMAX.
"Plus, I don't have to have any receive sites," Danielson says. "I just have to be in a place where WiMAX exists with Digital Bridge."
Digital Bridge Communications is the local WiMAX service provider, with which KIFI has been closely working. Its BridgeMaxx service covers much of the same ground as KIFI: Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Rexburg and a number of towns in Sun Valley.
"This is a unique product that was developed for them," says Doug Smith, Digital Bridge's CIO. "This was a first for both of us and one of the first, if not the first, instances of doing broadcast over WiMAX in the U.S. that I'm aware of."
Broadcasters elsewhere may soon be able to experiment with live video via WiMax.
Using spectrum mostly in the 2.5 GHz band, WiMAX is just getting started in the United States, and it is expected to pop up in markets across the country over the next few years.
The big player is (or will be) Clearwire Corp., a planned joint venture that will include some of the biggest names in telecom and high tech: Sprint Nextel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House, Google and Intel.
Sprint Nextel, which will own 51 percent of the venture, is folding in its Xohm WiMax unit, which launched a commercial service in Baltimore just last month.
If it all comes together, Clearwire expects to roll out WiMAX service in markets covering about 140 million people by 2010.
But what works in one place may not work in another.
In Idaho, KIFI and Digital Bridge worked out a "special priority service" that guarantees KIFI 2 Mbps upstream throughput when needed for a live shot.
A guaranteed upload speed of 2 Mbps is unusual for broadband wireless service providers. Typically, they offer such speeds only for downloads and much slower upstream bit rates for keystrokes, e-mail and occasional peer-to-peer traffic.
A news operation, of course, works the other way. It needs only small swaths of downstream bandwidth and huge chunks for sending video back to the studio.
Cutting a deal for the fat upstream pipe may not be possible everywhere.
As the service becomes popular, it will be more difficult for a station to set up the sort of sweetheart deal that KIFI has with Digital Bridge. Even in Idaho Falls, the priority service is only available for regularly scheduled newscasts.
"My verbal agreement with them is around news time," said Danielson. "We're learning that their peak time also happens to be around 4 in the afternoon. It's become complicated for them, but they've been able to deliver."
A wireless service provider could be forced to choose between the larger group of customers — some of whom are corporate and paying huge fees — and a steady paycheck from a news operation.
Raycom Media, the station group based in Montgomery, Ala., is intrigued by the KIFI experiment.
David Folsom, vice president-CTO at Raycom Media, says he will probably give it a try in Lubbock, Texas, the only Raycom market where WiMAX is going to be available. A company called Xanadoo is building a system there using licensed 2.5 GHz spectrum.
"The biggest hang-up at the moment is that nobody has created the glue yet for it," says Folsom. "You have a modem and a laptop and a camera but that doesn't necessarily make a remote facility. You need all the parts and pieces."
Nobody knows that better than KIFI, which had to assemble its system form parts and pieces.
Key pieces come from Steambox, a Seattle-based company that specializes to pushing video over IP networks. It's supplying the software that runs on a laptop and encodes and compresses the video for WiMAX transmission as well as the decoder that receives and processes the signal for broadcast back at the station.
"It really became a three-way partnership between us, Digital Bridge and Streambox constantly modifying and make this technology work," says Danielson. "There really are no blueprints for doing what we're doing yet."
"We'll see long term whether the QoS [quality of service] holds up," says Folsom. "The people in the field are not IT people; they're reporters. The issue is the human interface part and we're working on that right now."
Danielson maintains that using WiMAX is not that tough, even for the non-technical types.
"They have a camera, a BridgeMAXX modem, a converter box ... and a laptop computer with the Streambox encoder software. You look at the truck and go, ‘That's it?' There's nothing to it. It's simple. There's no 40-foot mast to worry about."
Aside from the quality of the signal, Danielson's biggest worry is latency of about three interminable seconds in the talk-back between the studio and the remote site.
"We compensate by cueing the reporter about a second-and-a-half before the anchor is done talking," Danielson says. "As far as having audio and video in sync, we have not had any of those issues."
In any event, Danielson and Folsom agree that WiMAX is a step up from EVDO, a widely available wireless access service that has been adopted by many broadcasters for sending video, but only when satellite and microwave isn't possible.
Folsom says he doesn't depend on EVDO for live shots. "We use it for those circumstances in which there's no other way we can do it because we're out of our normal microwave footprint or there's some other overriding reason like the weather.
"I don't suggest for a minute that EVDO is competing with WiMAX at all, but since WiMAX's footprint is so tiny right now and EVDO is everywhere, we're using Verizon EVDO+ and it's been fairly decent for us," says Folsom. "I don't have a lot of complaints."
While EVDO is improving, Danielson won't go that way again. EVDO can't promise bandwidth, he says, noting that an upstream throughput of 1 Mbps is considered a stretch.
At least for the present, KIFI sees WiMAX as a complement to microwave, not as a substitute.
"We still rely heavily on microwave for our primary system. The only downside with microwave is it's line-of-sight to your receive towers," he says.
Eastern Idaho is mountainous so there are many spots that are out of microwave range of the station. That's where WiMAX can help. "BridgeMAXX is more like cellular technology where any place you're within a radius of a WiMAX tower you have the ability to send," says Tory Willmer, KIFI's IT manager.
That Eastern Idaho is also sparsely populated helps, Danielson adds.
Even though its spectrum is licensed, WiMAX, like any radio service, is susceptible to interference, he says. So the more remote the place, the less the chance of interference.
WiMAX is one of two fourth-generation mobile wireless technologies. LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is coming on the heels of EVDO and other third generation services and, while still several years away, promises a more ubiquitous coverage and faster upstream service.
But WiMAX is here now.
"It's a great application for broadcast," says Danielseon. "I predict this is going to be the way things are done in the future. You could have a fleet of WING vehicles with WiMAX at a fraction of the cost of a couple satellite trucks or live trucks."

Venezuelan Satellite Launched in China

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:37:35 -0700

Simon Bolivar (or VENESAT-1, the ITU designation) launched Wednesday (16:53 UTC) via a Chang Zheng-3B (CZ3B-11) launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province. The news, via China Daily:

Carried by a Long March 3II rocket, the satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center located in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The satellite was produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation with an all-up weight of 5,100 kg and an designed longevity of 15 years.
The orbiter, named as Venezuela 1 Telecom Satellite, is the first telecom satellite of Venezuela which will be used in broadcasting, tele-education and medical service by coving the most regions of South America and the Caribbean region.
It will of great importance to improve living standards of the people living in the country's remote areas.

Here's the video...

Technorati Tags: xichang simon+bolivar venesat long+march hugo+chavez chavez venezuela chang+zheng

Spitzer Spots Spock's Planet

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:51:10 -0700

Star Trek fans may remember Spock's home star, Epsilon Eridani. Now, with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope, the discovery of asteroid belts within the nearby system (10.5 light years away) is prompting new comparisons to our own system -- and perhaps a planet Vulcan:

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected two asteroid belts around Epsilon Eridani, the planetary system closest to ours and home to Star Trek's fictitious First Officer Spock, the space agency reported yesterday.
A planet near the inner asteroid belt was identified eight years ago. The newly spotted planet is in the vicinity of the outer belt.
Epsilon Eridani is around 10 light-years, or 62 trillion miles (98 trillion kilometers), away from Earth's solar system and, at a mere 850 million years old, is considered a younger, similar version of our own 4.5- billion-year-old system. Star Trek creators made it the home of Vulcan, and it's possible that there are as-yet-unseen Earth-like planets between the star system and its inner ring, astronomer Massimo Marengo of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told McClatchy Newspapers.
"We certainly haven't seen it yet, but if its solar system is anything like ours, then there should be planets like ours," Marengo told USA Today.

Naturally, this prompted an active discussion on Slashdot, with several citations to literary fiction. More serious discussions abound.

The update from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics doesn't mention Mr. Spock or Vulcans, just what it means to scientists:

Epsilon Eridani and its planetary system show remarkable similarities to our solar system at a comparable age.
"Studying Epsilon Eridani is like having a time machine to look at our solar system when it was young," said Smithsonian astronomer Massimo Marengo (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). Marengo is a co-author of the discovery paper, which will appear in the Jan. 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Lead author Dana Backman (SETI Institute) agreed, saying, "This system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth."
Our solar system has a rocky asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, about 3 astronomical units from the Sun. (An astronomical unit equals the average Earth-Sun distance of 93 million miles.) In total, it contains about 1/20 the mass of Earth's Moon. Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the team of astronomers found an identical asteroid belt orbiting Epsilon Eridani at a similar distance of 3 astronomical units.
They also discovered a second asteroid belt 20 astronomical units from Epsilon Eridani (about where Uranus is located in our solar system). The second asteroid belt contains about as much mass as Earth's Moon.
A third, icy ring of material seen previously extends about 35 to 100 astronomical units from Epsilon Eridani. A similar icy reservoir in our solar system is called the Kuiper Belt. However, Epsilon Eridani's outer ring holds about 100 times more material than ours.
When the Sun was 850 million years old, theorists calculate that our Kuiper Belt looked about the same as that of Epsilon Eridani. Since then, much of the Kuiper Belt material was swept away, some hurled out of the solar system and some sent plunging into the inner planets in an event called the Late Heavy Bombardment. (The Moon shows evidence of the Late Heavy Bombardment - giant craters that formed the lunar seas of lava called mare.) It is possible that Epsilon Eridani will undergo a similar dramatic clearing in the future.

Some of us would like to believe another planet like ours exists, which recalls the power of the Vulcan Mind Meld in convincing people to think otherwise.

Here's one of my favorite clips from the original TV series:

Technorati Tags: spock spitzer nasa jpl star+trek vulcan planet+vulcan epsilon+eridani asteroid+belts

Bella Lancio di Razzi

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:51:57 -0700

Yes, the Delta rocket is still working. This time for the Italian COSMO/SKYMED-3 and the United Launch Alliance:

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on behalf of Boeing Launch Services, successfully launched the third Italian-built Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation or COSMO-SkyMed 3 satellite at 7:28 p.m., October 24. ULA successfully launched the first two Cosmo satellites on Delta II vehicles June 7, 2007 and Dec. 8, 2007.
"ULA is pleased to have successfully launched the third of four critical Earth observation systems in this series for Boeing and Thales Alenia Space," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Delta Product Line. "With this 43rd successful commercial launch, the Delta II system continues its record of mission success, which is unparalleled in the U.S. space industry. This achievement is due to the hard work of our professional engineers and technicians along with the tremendous support we receive from our government, industry, and supplier mission partners. We look forward to many more Delta II launches in the years ahead."
Blasting off from Space Launch Complex 2, it marked the fifth successful Delta II vehicle launch procured by The Boeing Company through its commercial launch business. The ULA Delta II 7420-10 configuration vehicle featured an ULA first stage booster powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine and four Alliant Techsystems (ATK) strap-on solid rocket boosters. An Aerojet AJ10-118K engine powered the second stage. The payload was encased by a 10-foot-diameter composite payload fairing.
ULA began processing the Delta II launch vehicle in Decatur, Ala., nearly two years ago. In February, the 1st stage arrived from Decatur followed by the 2nd stage in August. The vehicle was erected on its stand at the pad Sept. 16, with solid rocket booster installation completed Sept. 19. Hundreds of ULA technicians, engineers, and management worked to prepare the vehicle for the COSMO-3 mission.
Developed by Thales Alenia Space, Italia for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense, COSMO-3 is the third of the four COSMO-SkyMed satellites. Each satellite is equipped with a high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar operating in X-band and is one of a constellation of four radar satellites. The overall objective of the program is global Earth observation and relevant data responding to the needs of the military and scientific community, as well as to the public demand for environmental control.

Here's a nice video:

And here's one shot on-site, from a distance:

Technorati Tags: delta boeing ula united+launch+alliance vandenberg cosmo-3 skymed delta+ii delta+2

Elliptical C-band Uplink Antennas

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:46:32 -0700

Via Doug Lung's RF Report:

In some cases, it isn't possible to install an uplink dish that meets the FCC off-axis antenna pattern envelope. In the past, the FCC allowed operation of uplinks with non-compliant antennas upon a showing by the licensee that the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) would be reduced enough to keep the energy in side lobes below the level that would have existed using an uplink with a compliant dish at maximum power. This required a detailed engineering showing that often slowed FCC processing.

In the Eighth Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (FCC 08-246), the FCC adopted an off-axis EIRP envelope approach as one method for applicants to apply for fixed satellite service (FSS) Earth stations using small antennas operating on conventional C and Ku-band frequencies.

It states, "This off-axis EIRP approach gives earth station applicants the flexibility to reduce their power levels to compensate for a small antenna diameter. Thus, using these envelopes as criteria for licensing should enable us to license more earth station applications routinely, expediting the provision of satellite services to consumers and enhancing the types of services available, without increasing the likelihood of harmful interference to adjacent satellite operators or to terrestrial wireless operators."

The Order adopts rules that facilitate the use of elliptical C-band uplink antennas. While the new rules do not specifically state that the major axis of the elliptical antenna be aligned with the geo-stationary orbit plane, the Order notes that "that starting the off-axis EIRP envelope at 1.5 degrees off-axis within the GSO orbital plane, and at 3.0 degrees outside that plane, has the same effect as requiring elliptical antennas to be aligned with the GSO plane in most cases."

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) claimed that it is not possible to develop an off-axis EIRP envelope for analog video signals because the power density of such signals fluctuates. SES Americom opposed new analog regulations because the current rules are working well. The FCC decided to retain the current regulatory framework for analog services at this time. It dropped plans for eliminating analog video transmission over satellite entirely, noting, "The record in this proceeding has shown convincingly that requiring the transition from analog to digital video transmissions proposed in the Third Further Notice would be unreasonably expensive and burdensome."

Technorati Tags: fcc elliptical+antennas c-band sia eirp fcc+ruling

Commercial Launches from Florida

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:08:15 -0700

That's the live view from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 39, where the Space Shuttle will launch from in November.

Meanwhile, lots of activity at Launch Complex 36 this week, too. The U.S. Air Force announced it will soon host civil and commercial payload launches:

Officials with the Air Force and Space Florida made history during a dedication ceremony held here Oct. 22 when Space Launch Complex 36 officially was made available for operational use by the State of Florida, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis.
Attending the historic ceremony were Florida Governor Charlie Crist; Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp; Space Florida President Steve Kohler; Lt. Gen. William Shelton, 14th Air Force commander; and Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, 45th Space Wing commander.
General Shelton said Air Force leaders supported the initiative because it will make it easier for commercial providers to launch from the U.S. Having domestic launch options provides the U.S. with solid foundation for national security.
"This is a great partnership that is mutually beneficial to both the Air Force and the state," he said. "We take great pride in helping foster the success of the commercial space sector; I'm confident the spirit of innovation and the cooperation that made this a reality will continue in the years ahead."
Governor Crist also had positive things to say about the agreement.
"Florida has always been home to big ideas. The entrepreneurial spirit is woven into the DNA of Florida's economy," the governor said. "And thanks to the Air Force's decision, the door is now open to innovation and space opportunities never seen before. In tough economic times, it is important we do not sit idly by, but that we invest in economic opportunities for the future.
"What a tremendous opportunity to ensure that space exploration is a top priority and that the U.S. remains a leader right here from Florida," he said.
According to Space Florida officials, the reconfiguration of Launch Complex 36 will strengthen not only the state's aerospace industry but other growing economic sectors such as biotechnology and environmentally friendly energy technology vital to Florida's future. The launch complex will support light- to medium-lift vehicles that go into low-Earth orbit and beyond.
Space Florida's president sees this ground-breaking ceremony as a great beginning, both literally and figuratively.
"The Air Force assignment of Launch Complex 36 is an important next step to extending access to space," said Steve Kohler, Space Florida president.
"We are now making that available to both defense and security initiatives," he said, "with multiple commercial payloads and launch activities for both civil and private space businesses that want to launch from Florida. This direction by the Air Force, together with the tremendous support by the state, opens the door to attracting, supporting and sustaining national and international aerospace business here in Florida."
This effort also is in line with the mission of the 45th SW, according to General Helms.
"Our primary mission here is to assure access to the high frontier," she said. "This proposal better enables us to execute that mission. It's the ultimate 'win-win' situation for both the Air Force and the State of Florida."

Hours later, PlanetSpace announced it is ready to start, spurring Florida Today to report it will generate 350 jobs and a $300 million economic impact:

PlanetSpace, a consortium of ATK, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, announced Wednesday a proposal to launch a 158-foot solid-fuel rocket by 2011 from the pad at Cape Canaveral, which the Air Force has agreed to lease to Space Florida. The rocket could carry about 2 metric tons of cargo to the International Space Station.
NASA aims to announce on Dec. 23 whether PlanetSpace, or a competitor, has been chosen to provide the service. The company says its plan would create 350 jobs in Florida, with a potential economic impact of $300 million. PlanetSpace said it has at least two competitors for the NASA award.
Using state money, Space Florida now will start turning the abandoned launch complex into a serviceable launch pad, which it hopes will attract other commercial customers.
"The door is now open to more innovation," said Gov. Charlie Crist, who spoke Wednesday at the groundbreaking of the launch complex upgrade.
Complex 36 is now just a domed bunker beside a concrete slab at Cape Canaveral. The Air Force, which controls the property, intends to lease the site to Space Florida after an environmental impact analysis.
Space Florida, a state economic development agency focused on aerospace projects, then would build a launch facility that could accommodate medium to light rockets. The state plans a commercial launch zone that would reduce bureaucratic requirements and eliminate tariffs, similar to a free trade zone.
"This is a rebirth of a historical launch complex," Space Florida President Steve Kohler said.
Kohler said he is negotiating with several launch companies that may use the pad. The state has appropriated $14.5 million for the project and has bonding authority for another $40 million.
"We hope that the first phase of development could reach $55 million to build it out," Kohler said.
PlanetSpace hopes to be the first to use the new site in 2011. Under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program, the group is competing for a $3.1 billion government contract to move 20 metric tons of cargo to the space station with 10 to 12 rocket launches.

We see which bidder will be celebrating on 23 December 2008, with a great big contract under the tree (Solicitation Number: NNJ08ZBG001L).

Technorati Tags: patrick+afb usaf ksc cape+canaveral nasa planetspace lockheed+martin boeing atk pad+36 launch+complex+36

Chandrayaan-1 Launched

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:24:47 -0700

ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft launched:

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched the Chandrayaan-1, meaning "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit, into orbit from a launch facility in southern India.
"It's a historic moment, as far as India is concerned... We have started our journey to the moon and the first leg of the journey has gone perfectly well," ISRO president Madhavan Nair said. "It's a remarkable performance by the launch vehicle, every parameter was on the dot... Today what we have started is a remarkable journey for the Indian spacecraft to go to the moon and try to unravel the mysteries of the moon."
Chandrayaan-1 will orbit 60 miles above the moon's surface, while documenting its surface and chemical characteristics.
ISRO hopes this first launch will help the nation launch future lunar missions that can help researchers learn more about the moon and its origin. ISRO hopes to one day launch a manned mission to the moon, but admitted that it would take years before it is able to develop the necessary technologies.
ISRO hopes to launch another moon mission in 2012, as the space agency continues to develop the necessary infrastructure for a manned moon mission.
"Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested. This will lay the foundation for bigger missions and also open up new possibilities of international networking and support for planetary programs," the ISRO said in a statement published on its web site.

Here are two videos...

Technorati Tags: moon india moon+mission indian+space+research+organization chandrayaan isro pslv indian+rocket moon+probe

WorldSpace Ch. 11

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:18:37 -0700

No, we're not talking about WorldSpace channel 11 ("Radio Voyager") here. We're talking about Case Number 08-12412, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by WorldSpace, the pioneering satellite radio service available in Africa and Asia. The board of directors voted unanimously to file for it.

In the U.S., we've all heard about Sirius XM Radio and their 18 million subscribers. Turns out WorldSpace has yet to break a million, according to the Wall Street Journal report:

The company, which broadcasts its satellite radio services to more than 170,000 paid subscribers in 10 countries throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, sought Chapter 11 protection in the U.S Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. It listed assets of $307.4 million and liabilities of $2.12 billion.
The bulk of that debt, some $1.8 billion, is a contingent obligation under a royalty deal if the company's pretax earnings reach a certain level, according to company spokeswoman Judith Pryor.
In court papers, Chief Executive Noah A. Samara said the company was forced to file for bankruptcy after seeking four forbearance agreements with its noteholders since June.
In addition, WorldSpace has failed to pay some of its workers for two months, causing "significant employee attrition," Mr. Samara said. The company owes 50 "critical employees" $1.35 million in back pay.
"As a result of WorldSpace's growing concern regarding its inability to make timely payments to critical employees and other essential creditors, WorldSpace determined that it is in its best interests and the best interests of its subsidiaries and stakeholders to file these chapter 11 proceedings," said Mr. Samara, one of the key figures in the early stages of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.
The company, which intends to sell off its assets or recapitalize the business, is seeking court approval of a $13 million bankruptcy loan provided by a group of hedge funds to continue operating while under bankruptcy-court protection.
Worldspace was founded in 1990 with the intent to provide satellite radio services to the emerging markets of Asia and Africa. The company has two satellites currently in orbit and a third in storage.
Among the WorldSpace's so called first-day motions the company is asking to secure the bankruptcy loan and use some of that funding to pay its employees. The company is also seeking the continued use of its bank accounts.
Without the bankruptcy financing, the remaining critical employees will likely depart, which would "impair" WorldSpace's ability to operate the satellites and continue as a going concern, Samara said.
Yenura Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company controlled by Mr. Samara, is WorldSpace's largest unsecured creditor, owed $55.2 million. Number 2 is Micronas GmbH, owed $18.2 million, and Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, owed $4.4 million.
Mr. Samara is the largest shareholder of the Silver Spring, Md. company, owning 47.15% of the firm. Aletheia Research & Management Inc., owning 37% percent, and Natixis Asset Management Advisor LP, owning 5.25%, are the other major shareholders of WorldSpace.

170,000 subscribers? And they've paid to build and launch two satellites? AfriStar launch in 1998, so I'm wondering how they could have kept going for the last ten years on so few paying subscribers. Probably the dedication of Noah Samara, their CEO and founder. His speech before the African Development Forum in 1999 tells you something about what moved him (it's so good I need to present it all):

The urgent imperative of our time and of this continent is the creation of an affluent African Information Society. I will speak to this need today. And I will be brief.
Over the past 15 years, we have seen the industrialized world shift its focus from connecting people to connecting nodes of information which people can universally access, share and grow. Focus on convergence technologies has brought unprecedented benefit and wealth resulting from net media or, if you will, information affluence.
In contrast, the developing world has focused on teledensity and lines per 1000 in its quest for universal access. The focus has been universal access to telephony and not to the electronic consciousness of mankind, more popularly known as the Internet. Accordingly, the progress in teledensity has not yielded the corresponding benefits and wealth which information affluence has created for the industrialized world.
Indeed, the information gap between nations is going through a quantum leap. It is volatile and threatens to explode into an irreparable gulf between rich and poor nations.
Developing efficient and effective ways to create information-affluent societies is the need for every need. I have pursued this vision with a sense of purpose and urgency; it animates my being and instructs my energies. Information affluence is, in my humble opinion, the sine-qua-non to development. Have it and wealth and development will follow. Without it, our attempt to alleviate poverty, bring health, wealth and education - indeed our attempt to create a sustainable, compassionate, civilization will be without success.
Information is the predicate to everything we know. It is ubiquitous. It is the building block behind the human DNA, the chair you are sitting on, the building you are in, the car you drive.
Look behind the wealth of nations and of individuals and -- again -- you will find information. Information about processes, techniques and organizations.
Look behind the poverty of individuals and nations and you will find ignorance.
The state of global information is the best allegory for the state of our planet. The gap between poor and rich has been made starker, not better, by the power of information and communications technologies.
While these technologies have liberated lives, created stock market miracles and improved economies, they have only touched a fraction of the world's population.
An abyss is in the process of formation.
Nearly 2.5 billion people have never made a phone call; yet Manhattan alone has more phones than all those combined in sub-Saharan Africa. While there is a radio station for every thirty thousand people in most OECD countries, on average there is one radio station for every two million people in most of the developing world. There are more Internet hosts in Estonia than all of sub-Saharan Africa. The hardware disparity between poor and rich nations is not nearly as troubling as the scarcity of information which directly undermines the ability of a nation to not only keep its citizens informed and educated, but to simply keep them alive. 11 million people will die of AIDS this year in Sub-Saharan Africa. 40 million children will be orphaned. Either one of those numbers, by any definition, represents the population of an entire country. This is horror we do not really comprehend.
Asked about concerns he might have at the loss of thousands of citizens, Stalin is said to have once remarked that a single death is a tragedy; but a million a mere statistic.
Stalin was a bad man. We all agree he was ruthless, unmoved by human suffering. But does his comment reflect on him or is his an insight about all of us?
Consider the story of Yaguine Koita and Fode Tounkara - two boys from Guinea, ages 14 and 15. Eight weeks ago they tried to escape the turmoil and poverty of their homeland by sneaking on board the landing gear of a Sabena airliner. They died somewhere between Conakry and Brussels in the unpressurized compartment where the temperature at that altitude is 55 degrees below zero.
A letter they were carrying in their clothing read:
"Help us. We suffer a lot in Africa. We have no rights as children. We have no food. We have war and illness. We have schools but lack education. We want to study so we can be like you, in Africa. "
Their story was carried in every newspaper throughout Europe. It even made the Washington Post where I read about it.
A single death is a tragedy. Eleven million people will die this year from AIDS alone in Africa. How many thousand people do you think died in the few minutes I've been standing before you? Does it matter? It is after all a statistic!
But Yaguine and Fode's death - that is eloquent. To me it is more than poignant.
You see, I was born in Africa and left when I was 17, like Yaguine and Fode, in search of education. I did so weeks before a revolution, a period of terror, in Ethiopia killed many of my close friends.
But for the Grace of God, I could have gone the way of my friends.
Instead, I stand before this august assembly of distinction and achievement to speak on the urgency of creating information affluence for the dispossessed. What can I tell you that the death of Yaguine and Fode has not already conveyed? This is an imperative we must address. It is the same imperative that led me to founding WorldSpace fewer than 10 years ago.
The vision of founding WorldSpace was partly driven by a desire to stem the spread of AIDS in Africa. I felt that an efficient, cost effective system could be developed to deliver a variety of information across a whole continent, clearly and consistently. After sketching this idea, literally, on the back of a napkin, I went to my wife to tell her I was quitting my job as an up and coming legal and business advisor in the communications and satellite industry. "Right, Like hell you will" she said.
I said, no, no, no, no; this is important. I want to launch a satellite over Africa," I told her. She obviously thought I was crazy.
So in the hope of getting her consent, I told her this would be a piece of cake -- easy and straightforward. You see all you have to do is:

Start a company

Apply for licenses

Raise capital

Get 130 countries to allocate frequencies

Get great engineers to design the system

Get great companies to build/launch the system

Get more companies to make/distribute millions of receivers

Needless to say, it took longer than I thought and it cost more than I thought. But we did start the company; got licenses; got 130 countries to allocate the choicest part of the radio spectrum globally for the service; and raised the money needed to build and launch the system. Starting this month, world brand manufacturers are distributing the receivers throughout Africa.
This is the first satellite ever launched specifically to cover Africa -- something I am particularly proud of. The service is also the first of its kind and is being introduced in Africa two years before it gets to America.
The second satellite will be launched in a few months over Asia; soon after a third will cover Latin America in the largest footprint for a direct broadcast service ever created by a single company.
Simply stated, these satellites will broadcast 60 plus channels or radio stations directly to a new generation of receivers. No satellite dish is necessary; just a simple antenna on the receiver.
The receivers can also be connected to a computer to deliver a full-blown, internet-like multimedia content. This is important because the growth of internet-capable PC's in the developing world is outstripping the capacity of the telephone infrastructure. The WorldSpace system can deliver gigabytes of information to computers without the need of a phone, direct via the receiver.
The service will carry music, information and entertainment. And we are dedicating capacity to carry content addressing women's issues, environmental initiatives, health advisories and distance education. The system's data delivery capability can be used to :

broadcast the entire school curriculum of a whole nation or an entire continent;

reach health professionals on a regular basis with information on pandemics, epidemics and share experiences of successes and failures;

telecommute agriculture extension programs;

reach women with solutions that address their needs in family planing or entrepreneurial training;

reach societies at large to think creatively about their environment and its input on the delicate balance of our planet; and

help the youth to reach their counterparts with initiatives, with their dreams.

We believe information is the key to change stark realities that are facing the peoples of the developing world.
WorldSpace is a business with a mission: namely, to create an infrastructure that will provide hundreds of millions of people with access to information. WorldSpace realizes there are 20 million households across Africa that are able to afford and utilize its system for a fee here and a fee there that soon adds up to real money.
But we cannot and will not be oblivious to the fact that more than 350 million people on this continent will not be able to access any information unless we do something about it.
At the end of the day, life is somewhat digital. You have either done something, or you have not. The word trying is a euphemism. In the harsh reality of existence the gray dissipates into a stark relief of black and white. I will not belabor the struggle, the lonliness, the humiliation and the failures we faced at WorldSpace throughout this decade-long journey.
But I can unequivocally tell you that I never doubted - even for an instant - that Africa had to have, indeed deserved, an infrastructure specifically tailored to meet its needs.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes it is written that "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding." In the end life and what we make of it comes down to human will.
It is in our power to bring information affluence to Africa. It is in our hands to make it happen.
Consider the following proposal: Every constituency in this august hall decides to work on a single initiative and this is the initiative: We put 5 million internet terminals in 5 million villages and neighborhoods in 5 fast-paced years. These terminals will have the capacity to deliver primary-to-college education; teach women to become bread-winners for their homes; teach health professionals how to address the pressing health needs in their areas. Maybe the system might even engender understanding between the variagated peoples of this, our beloved continent. It can be done if we want it so badly that we decide to work tenaciously and with a singularity of purpose.
We are doing just that at WorldSpace. We have embarked on a study with the Ethiopian Media Agency to put receivers in every school and attach these receivers to computers and printers. In addition to delivering the curriculum for each school, the units would address the needs of the other constituencies attached to the schools: like women, health professionals, farmers etc…. Each such unit may thus touch the lives of over 200 people -- improving their physical well-being, their mental capabilities and their spiritual lives. We are interested in carrying this initiative to other countries in Africa. I once read that Mother Teresa said, "God doesn't require us to succeed; He only requires that we try." You know she is right. Because in his boundless mercy, the God of big and small things sees into our hearts and souls and judges us by our intent as well as our actions.
History, by contrast, has no compassion whatsoever. Our attempts, and our intent mean nothing to history. Our well-intentioned efforts will not even earn us a footnote.
I am here to speak for industry at this august opening ceremony. Instead, permit me to speak to industry, to governments and to civil society. My message is simple: creating social and economic development in Africa is not about me and it's not about you. It's about getting it done. The Prime Minister hit it on the nail at our opening ceremony: by providing for the future of the dispossessed, we will secure our own and that of our families.
Our technology is digital and so is our task. It's zero or one; we are either on or off; we have gotten it done or we have not.
Here's what we might see if we get it done, however. Yaguine and Fode's death will not happen in the next millennium. They would not have to leave their home in search of education. They would find it in the comfort of their village or their homes.
Why can't we all come together on an initiative that would put us much closer in saying Yaguine and Fode will not die in the next millennium?
We should agree to act, believing that we have a lot more power to effect change, both individually and collectively. I for one have learned never to underestimate where a napkin, a handful of people and commitment can take you.
The great anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, she says, "It is the only thing that ever has."
Rainer Maria Rilke said it differently, beautifully:

Again and again in history some special people wake up
They have no ground in the crowd
They move to broader laws
They carry strange customs with them, demand room
for bold and audacious actions
The future speaks ruthlessly through them
They change the world!

Change, commitment, resolve all center around the courage that affirms our lives or ideas in spite of all that threatens our lives or ideas! True courage or conviction is neither an opinion nor deterred by one. Rather it is a state of being.
I have no fear to stand alone in my conviction that change towards a compassionate sustainable civilization is not only possible, but inevitable. But I know there is a group of us out there and in this room that are rooted in the conviction that the shortest road to our goal is the creation of an information-affluent African society. Together we will honor our ancestors by creating the greatest of patrimony for our progeny.
The question for you, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, is not whether the inevitable will happen; but whether your fingerprint will be among that small group of thoughtful, committed people who actually changed the world.

Just as moving today as it was nearly a decade ago. Let's hope there's some way this company can right itself and continue on with its noble mission. Maybe they'll get some help from O3b Networks.

Ethan Zuckerman called him "...one of the most charming and inspiring men I’ve met in recent years" on his My Heart's in Accra blog last June.

Gunter's Space Page tells us more about the spacecraft they use, an Alcatel payload using an Astrium bus:

Broadcasters have access to the satellite, via either a small individual station, or a central hub station. Leading edge techniques are used to transmit the digital and compressed programmes to the satellite. The satellite will send these programs directly to the public. Each satellite carries an innovative payload that implement baseband processing - appearing for the first time in a commercial programme - and a more conventional and "transparent" payload.
The dual payload carried by WorIdSpace satellites has been designed by Alcatel Space at its Toulouse premises to supply the highest possible digital broadcasting performance and the highest level of reliability throughout the satellites lifetime. On board base-band processing Authorizes direct satellite access to a multitude of individual stations on one-third of the planet, without having to contribute to costly links towards an access “hub”. Thus, a small local station in Africa can broadcast throughout the continent. The conventional payload enables major radiobroadcasters to pool their resources and reduce operating costs.
The high L band power is achieved by a pair of 150 watt traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) operating in parallel. The ability to set frequencies, in both reception and transmission, makes the System very flexible. In orbit antenna reconfiguration allows antenna coverage optimization and enables one satellite to replace another whenever necessary.

Technorati Tags: eurostar+2000 astrium chapter+11 bankruptcy 1worldspace noah+samara worldspace satellite+radio sirius+xm

Bread & Satellites

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:25:50 -0700

If you've spent some time in Ann Arbor, Michigan, you may have come across a Zingerman's -- a host of specialty foods delis, restaurants and related businesses. They're known for having one of the best mail-order breads in the U.S.

The University of Michigan's Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory is working on a micro-satellite about the size of a loaf of bread. The story, via Space Daily, gives us more:

U.S. scientists say they are developing a satellite about the size of a loaf of bread that will be deployed to study space weather.
The National Science Foundation-funded project called Radio Explorer, or RAX, is being led by the University of Michigan and the SRI International Corp., a California independent research and technology development organization.
The satellite, called CubeSat, is to be the first free-flying spacecraft, and will be built, in part, by members of the university's Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory.
CubeSats are approximately 4-inch cube-shaped devices that launch from inside a P-Pod -- a special rocket attachment developed by California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University.
The RAX satellite will essentially be made of three CubeSats and will measure the energy flow in the Earth's ionosphere, where solar radiation turns regular atoms into charged particles.
"This project will help us better understand space weather processes, how the Earth and sun interact and how this weather produces noise in space communication signals -- noise that translates to lower quality telecommunications capabilities and error in GPS signals," said Assistant Professor James Cutler, a co-principal investigator with physicist Hasan Bahcivan of SRI.

The grants from the National Science Foundation, who use a less-imaginative "half gallon carton of milk" metaphor, hopes to develop more student interest in space, too:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a grant to SRI International, an independent non-profit research and development organization based in Menlo Park, Calif., to carry out the first space weather CubeSat mission.
CubeSats are tiny satellites with dimensions of 10��10��10 centimeters, weighing about 1 kilogram, and typically using commercial off-the-shelf electronics components.
Developed through joint efforts, California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University introduced CubeSats to academia as a way for universities throughout the world to enter the realm of space science and exploration.
According to atmospheric scientists, CubeSats have the potential to be excellent platforms for technology development and small science missions, and promote student involvement in design, fabrication and flight missions.
"One of the goals is to help train future space scientists and aerospace engineers," said Therese Moretto Jorgensen, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences. "CubeSats will also help answer questions in space weather such as the cause of disturbances in the ionosphere, and the rise and decay of the Earth's radiation belts during geomagnetic storms."

SRI International's team will include many, including support from NASA:

“SRI is excited about the NSF contract, and working in collaboration with the University of Michigan,” said Hasan Bahcivan, research physicist at SRI International. “This program provides a cost effective way to support space weather and atmospheric research. It is also well positioned to provide excellent training opportunities for students that hope to become engineers or scientists. We expect 20 to 30 students to take significant roles in the design, development, and science operations of the satellite.”
The project’s mission is designed to remotely explore small-scale ionization structures in the form of plasma turbulence that occurs in response to intense electrical currents in the space environment. The structures can adversely impact communication and navigation signals by perturbing the refractive index along the signal propagation paths. By utilizing signals from powerful transmitters on the ground and receiving the scattered signals in space, researchers are achieving effective and powerful space-based radar to probe these structures, which would be expensive to accomplish via a stand-alone satellite radar.
"We have a multidisciplinary, cross-departmental team working on the project, that includes several engineers and faculty, and a large number of undergraduate and graduate students," said James Cutler, an assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. "My research laboratory will be partnering with several space-related classes and the Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL) to build and fly RAX."
The first launch opportunity for the NSF satellite program will be with the Department of Defense Space Test Program, and is scheduled for December 2009 aboard a Minotaur-4 launch vehicle out of Kodiak, Alaska. Commissioning and launch support for the mission will be provided by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility.

This is the kind of government support we need to develop the future of rocket science.

Technorati Tags: sri michigan rax cubesat space+weather nsf+grant national+science+foundation ann+arbor

Looks Like Kutztown

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:30:48 -0700

GeoEye-1's first image released of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania:

GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), a premier provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, released today the first, color half-meter ground resolution image taken from its GeoEye-1 satellite. The satellite has been undergoing calibration and check-out since it was launched on Sept. 6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Calif. The Company will begin selling GeoEye-1 imagery products later this fall.
The Kutztown University image shows the campus, which includes academic buildings, parking lots, roads, athletic fields and the track-and-field facility. The image was collected at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Oct. 7, 2008 while GeoEye-1 was moving north to south in a 423-mile-high (681 km) orbit over the eastern seaboard of the U.S. at a speed of four-and-one-half miles per second. GeoEye-1 was built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz. The imaging system was built by ITT in Rochester, NY.

Technorati Tags: google geoeye kutztown vandenberg itt+rochester

Sirius Radio on an iPhone

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:32:32 -0700

Sirius Satellite Radio subscribers have the priviledge to listen via Internet audio streams. It was only a matter of time before an iPhone app was created: uSirius.

Follow the discussion on Sirius Backstage.

Technorati Tags: usirius apple sirius+xm sirius+radio iphone sirius+backstage

Send In The Rocket Scientist

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:04:51 -0700

Watched the U.S. presidential debate last night and neither could explain their position on this $700 billion bailout/rescue. Seems their economic talking points haven't changed much in six months (Main Street, middle class, tax the rich). We need Madison Avenue to start selling these leading candidates.

Now we've got an interesting angle, as far as we're concerned and way to go, NPR! They called it before we did in today's Morning Edition piece on Neel Kashkari, the new Interim Assistant-secretary for Financial Stability: "Ex-Rocket Scientist To Oversee Financial Bailout." He worked on NASA's Jame Webb Space Telescope at TRW. Click here to listen:

Back in the 1990s, Tom Dautel worked on a team led by Kashkari to design a solar car called the Photon Torpedo at the University of Illinois. He says Kashkari worked like a slave, often even on projects he wasn't directly overseeing.
"He meant business. He wanted to get the job done. He was very focused, and it doesn't surprise me he ended up where he is," Dautel says.
Poorni Bid says Kashkari's intensity made the man she and other classmates called Rocket Scientist seem wise and competent beyond his years.
"He stood out in just his focus and just his intensity," she says. "And you'd think everyone in MBA school would be like that, but there was a different quality about him."

The Independent (U.K.) gives us some background:

Before he became one of the "masters of the universe", as the ambitious bankers of Wall Street are known, Mr Kashkari was headed towards becoming a master of the cosmos, doing important work for Nasa's space program. Banking is not in his blood. Science is. His father, Chapman, is a retired professor of engineering, and his mother Sheila is a pathologist. It was to science that the young Neel Kashkari originally hewed, taking a bachelor's and a master's in engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his home state's flagship public university. His first major career was as a research and development investigator at a company called TRW in Redondo Beach, California, which had an illustrious history as a contractor to Nasa, creating several of its deep space satellites. At TRW, Mr Kashkari helped develop technology for new space science missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which is due for launch in 2013 as a successor to the ageing Hubble telescope and which will go searching for light from the first stars formed after the Big Bang.

The sheer complexity of this situation will take a rocket scientist to fix, but it's already affecting the presidential race:

Within the poll numbers, Obama appears to have been helped by a number of factors. For one, voters generally tend to say they believe Democrats are better at handling the economy than Republicans, and that appears to have happened here. A new Hotline poll shows that over the last week the percentage of respondents who feel McCain is better prepared than Obama to handle the economy fell five percentage points, from 43 to 38 percent.
McCain’s personal performance, from his attempt to cancel the initial presidential debate to his silence in presidential meetings on the bailout, did not gain him new votes, at least in the short term. A USA Today/Gallup poll taken before the bailout failed to pass the House on Monday showed that 53 percent of respondents judged his actions unfavorably.

Technorati Tags: mccain treasury paulson financial+bailout neel+kashkari kashkari obama debates u.s.treasury wall+street

Virgin Says "No"

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:00:37 -0700

A "no" from Virgin means "NO," dutifully reported by Peter de Selding:

Virgin Galactic Rejects Million-Dollar Offer to Film Sex Video
By Peter B. de Selding
Space News Staff Writer
GLASGOW, Scotland — The private company planning to take wealthy tourists to the edge of the atmosphere starting in late 2009 or early 2010 has refused a million-dollar proposal to film a sex video while the participants are floating gravity free, the company's president said.
Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, said the offer, from an unidentified party, "was $1 million, up front, for a sex-in-space movie. That was money we had to refuse, I'm afraid."
Whitehorn disclosed the rejected transaction here Sept. 30 during the International Astronautical Congress. He said Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, is planning to begin flights of the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft in late 2009 or early 2010 from Sierra County, N.M.

Remember, selling begins with the word "no." Let's see what other offers pop up.

Technorati Tags: virgin sex+in+space space+porn virgin+galactic branson market+penetration

Inadequate Gravel Road Training

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:16:29 -0700

Transporting a missile/rocket booster by semi. As the driver of that tractor, you'd think you'd be very well trained. You can never have too much training, as we read North Dakota's Bismarck Tribune:

Cost to recover rocket booster: $5.6 million
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
The military says it cost $5.6 million to recover an overturned truck carrying an unarmed missile booster rocket in northwestern North Dakota.
The Air Force blamed "driver and safety observer error" for the July 31 incident. The truck carrying the booster for the unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile tipped over on a gravel road while being transported from the Minot Air Force Base to a launch facility 70 miles southwest. Two airmen were in the truck, which was accompanied by a security convoy.
"There were no injuries and the accident posed no danger to the public," the Air Force said in a statement.
The rocket booster and truck remained at the side of the road until Aug. 10, while investigators assessed the crash site.
Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Laurie A. Arellano said the recovery cost of $5.6 million included damage to the truck and its cargo.
"Inadequate gravel road training programs and the inability of 91st Missile Wing engineering personnel to accurately determine the safe load-bearing width of gravel roads along designated routes also contributed to the accident," the Air Force statement said.
The Air Force said the booster rocket is 66 feet long and weighs 75,000 pounds while the vehicle, trailer and rocket booster weighed more than 70 tons.
"While preparing to make a left turn, the driver and safety observer maneuvered the loaded tractor-trailer beyond the right edge of the reinforced gravel roadway and shoulder," the Air Force statement said.
"Basically, the procedure for large trucks is that they're supposed to drive in the middle of the gravel road," Arellano said.
Arellano did not know Thursday if any airmen had been sanctioned.

They should have hired one of the drivers who race up Pike's Peak in trucks. Take a look at this video clip:

Technorati Tags: north+dakota bismarck usaf minuteman rocket+booster minot+afb

Airborne Broadband Bacchanal

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:41:11 -0700

About a week after Labor Day, ARINC introduced new Caribbean coverage for SKYLink, an in-flight broadband service for business jets:

The new Caribbean coverage area means users of the SKYLink network will be able to fly from Europe to North America, across the Caribbean, and on to Central and South America, without losing access to important e-mail or Internet applications. To encourage customers to take part in the coverage tests, ARINC Direct suspended roaming charges in the new region through July 21, 2008. Customer feedback was used to adjust satellite coverage and to map signal strength across the region.
The new coverage includes the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad-Tobago; Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru, northern Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, and part of Surinam.
eXchange with service by SKYLink is the only communications system for business jets offering true broadband Internet speeds—as high as 3.5 Mbps to the aircraft. Customers have access to e-mail, corporate intranet (VPN), the Web, flat-rate Voice over IP (VoIP) global telephone service, and videoconferencing. eXchange also provides e-mail and data capability for personal Wi-Fi enabled smartphones in the cabin.

Really cool how Rockwell-Collins integrates it all:

Business travelers will experience real-time, two-way broadband connectivity with secure access to e-mail services, Internet browsing, access to Virtual Private Networks (VPN), and options for Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone service and videoconferencing. eXchange also enables data connectivity to select Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, such as RIM's Blackberry models 8320 and 8820, providing travelers with access to e-mail and other smartphone data services.

Thanks to the AMC-21 satellite's dedicated Caribbean Ku-band beam -- and new mobile platform -- local satcom Internet companies like Caribbetech and mobile services like KVH have new opportunities to pursue.

Technorati Tags: arinc kvh amc-21 americom ses+americom skylink rockwell-collins in-flight+broadband caribbean+internet