Free Republic

In the years since the Cold War ended, the U.S. military has become heavily dependent upon satellite communications to maintain its global connectivity. Without such links, it would be difficult for the military to operate in a coordinated fashion or exchange information critical to situational awareness. Defense experts have repeatedly warned that the availability of space-based communications could be compromised in future conflicts by the fact that 80-90% of all military traffic is transmitted on vulnerable commercial satcom channels. However, there is a related problem that far fewer military observers have noticed: only about 1% of defense communications today are...

WHAT IS BGAN? The Broadband Global Area Network or BGAN for short, is a global Satellite Internet Network with telephony using portable terminals. The terminals are normally used to connect laptop computers to broadband Internet in remote locations the terminal can be used anywhere. The value of BGAN terminals is that unlike other satellite Internet services which require bulky & heavy satellite dishes to connect, a BGAN terminal is smaller than a laptop and thus can be carried anywhere, and used globally. The network is provided by INMARSAT and uses two geostationary satellites, with a third satellite to enter service...

The AMSAT-OSCAR Echo Amateur Radio satellite and several other payloads launched on schedule June 29 at 0630 UTC from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ground controllers made their first contact with Echo at 1452 UTC and collected some telemetry to analyze before shutting down the 435.150 MHz digital downlink transmitter. ''This achievement is due to many individuals around the world, who have helped in the design, building, integration, testing and launching of this satellite,'' said AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH. Earth stations should not attempt to transmit on the satellite's uplink until checkout and commissioning are complete and AO-Echo has been...