US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, delivered 20 satellite phones and a technician to officials in Chili earlier this week.
The United Nations is also sending 45 satellite phones to Chile for officials coordinating earthquake relief efforts. The ITU is providing Iridium satellite phones which can use both satellite and GSM networks, as well as delivering accurate GPS positioning coordinates to aid relief and rescue.
Chile, which boasts a sophisticated response system because it is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, suffered from a lack of communications.
“For 48 hours, the government did not know what was happening in the most affected zone,” says Oscar Godoy, a political science professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. “This country is not Haiti, and yet we do not have a system of satellite phones to be able to connect with the centers of [disaster zones.]”
The same could be said for the West Coast of the United States.
In other news, Iridium Communications is again teaming with its service partners, Satcom Global and IonEarth, to provide satellite voice and data services for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, which begins March 5 in Anchorage, Alaska.
IonEarth is equipping each of the participating sleds with a lightweight battery-powered GPS tracking device, which will transmit the sled’s location, speed, heading, altitude and air temperature every 15 minutes.
Race officials and fans can view the latest position and status of each competitor on a 3-D map on the Iditarod Website. It’s handy for race monitoring, and allows for a regular stream of data on the racers and sled dogs.
The racers themselves will not be able to view the data from the trackers in the field, preserving the tradition of self-sufficiency and independence in competing against each other and fighting the elements.
“Iridium is the only satellite system providing reliable coverage in all of Alaska,” said Stan Hooley, executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC).
The Insider 2010 GPS Tracker lets you follow the entire field 24 hours a day until the last team reaches Nome. You’ll know how fast teams are traveling, distance between teams and checkpoints along with current temperatures on the trail. But it will cost you between $20 – $33.95 if you want all the real-time information with video clips.
Meanwhile, Harris Corporation last July deployed their 18-meter antenna reflector onboard the geosynchronous TerreStar communications satellite. On orbit tests have confirmed that the reflector is fully deployed in its intended position. Commercial operation has been expected to begin for some time. Their on-orbit testing of Ground Based Beam Forming is complete.
With an antenna almost 60 feet across, and supporting 500 dynamically-configurable spot beams, TerreStar-1 will surpass the signal sensitivity and spot beam generation capability of all commercial satellites currently in orbit. The Harris antenna reflector makes it possible for the TerreStar-1 satellite to focus the 2 GHz S-band signals on the United States and Canada in order to provide these Mobile Satellite Services (MSS).
AT&T Mobility plans service that utilizes both Terrestar’s satellite and AT&T’s terrestrial cellular service. The first handset, which will use separate cellular and satellite chips, will cost about US$700 without a carrier subsidy. It will provide voice service as well as data at approximately 64K bits per second.
But Terrestar stock is under $1 per share and some wonder about its future viability. Same deal with ICO which has had an operational satellite for more than a year – but has yet to offer commercial service.
Motorola and other investors spent more than $5 billion to develop the Iridium satellite system. But only a handful of employees remained in 2000, when Iridium Satellites LLC paid $25 million for the company.
It’s been in the black ever since.
Humaninet provides communications support for Chile earthquake and tsunami response. They have several Sabre BGAN terminals available as loaners to NGO teams, thanks to a generous donation of equipment by Vizada.
There are six models of BGAN terminals, with equipment prices beginning at $1200 and service at under $7 per megabyte.
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