[EAS]Iridium Redux

[pjk]

Subject:   Iridium Redux

What a difference a societal paradigm shift makes. You will recall the
tale of the Iridium project in past mailings here

http://www.yale.edu/engineering/eng-info/msg00701.html
http://www.yale.edu/engineering/eng-info/msg00702.html
http://www.yale.edu/engineering/eng-info/msg00777.html

With our now tragic awareness of communications needs under dire circumstances, we have

> (from NewsScan Daily, 24 September 2001)
> NEW INTEREST IN SATELLITE HAND-HELD TELEPHONES One result of the
> terrorist attacks in New York and Washington has been a resurgence of
> interest in the kinds of hand-held satellite telephones manufactured
> by Iridium Satellite and Globalstar Telecommunications. One reseller
> of such devices reported a 400% increase in sales in the week after
> those terrible events. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, 
> many fixed-line phones and ordinary cell phones were useless, but
> Iridium  and Globalstar phones continued to provide service, since
> they rely on a  constellation of rapidly orbiting satellites whose
> signals can reach even into office canyons. (New York Times 24 Sep
> 2001)
> http://partners.nytimes.com/2001/09/24/technology/24SATE.html


This is not to say that $2000 satellite telephones (because of that
often rented or leased, and with connect charges as high as $5/min)
are a better solution than extra cell phone capacity and redundancy.
Except of course in Afghanistan.

   --PJK