Re: Billy boy's satellites [Was - Floating DataHaven]
At 12:16 AM 8/19/96, Vipul Ved Prakash wrote:
Vincent Cate wrote:
Doesn't the low orbit part mean that the satellites will have a low life expectancy, meaning a new launch every couple of days? (where's Gerald Bull when you need him - oh yes, now I remember ...)
LEO (Low Earth Orbit) is only relative to the main alternative placement for broadcast satellites: geostationary orbit, out in the Clarke Belt. LEO satellites are well above significant drag of the troposphere and are expected to remain in orbit far longer than their lifetimes as useful transponders.
The Iridium Project was pretty neat in this respect. I don't know what is happenning with it as of now. It had some 230+ satellites, and some smart routing techniques, if a satellite goes down.
Actually, far fewer. The original number of satellites (not counting spares) was equal to the atomic number of iridium, hence the name (though maybe they altered the number of satellites to match the atomic number?). They later reduced the needed number by a few, but kept the name. An Alta Vista search on "iridium AND satellite" produces 1000 hits, so there's plent of information out there. There are also two major competing systems, also not yet deployed. One is the Microsoft-McCaw Cellular project, another is being done by an aerospace company working with Qualcomm, or a subsidiary. Again, the Web should produce the information for anyone interested. Which of the three (and maybe more) systems will actually get deployed, and which will succeed in the market, is an interesting question. There's some obvious crypto/GAK/New World Order issues: many countries may not care for a communications system which allows citizen-units or enemy agents to make phone calls from the middle of the Kalahari desert or from within the jungles of Burma. (The Israelis, for example, are insisting that all handheld units have Explosives Escrow, for detonation with appropriate official orders.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
On Mon, 19 Aug 1996, Timothy C. May wrote: <Discussion re LEO satellites deleted>
There are also two major competing systems, also not yet deployed. One is the Microsoft-McCaw Cellular project, another is being done by an aerospace company working with Qualcomm, or a subsidiary. Again, the Web should produce the information for anyone interested.
Which of the three (and maybe more) systems will actually get deployed, and which will succeed in the market, is an interesting question.
There's some obvious crypto/GAK/New World Order issues: many countries may not care for a communications system which allows citizen-units or enemy agents to make phone calls from the middle of the Kalahari desert or from within the jungles of Burma.
Or the streets of New York or Washington. Not too long ago, in my former life as a federal prosecutor, I attended a Computer Crimes conference at Quantico (the FBI part, not the Marine part). One of the speakers discussed LEO satellites and satellite cellular phones. The "difficulty" in wiretapping those phones was of grave concern to most of those present.... EBD
(The Israelis, for example, are insisting that all handheld units have Explosives Escrow, for detonation with appropriate official orders.)
--Tim May
Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
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