There are many places on earth where the only way to send a message to
another party is by carrier pigeon or the local postal service. Many locations
lack even these. But at least people who find themselves in such desolate
locations can now send and receive email thanks to the 66 orbiting Iridium
satellites.
Iridium Satellite LLC, the company that rescued the $6 billion satellite
constellation from bankruptcy, court-ordered re-entry into the Earth’s
atmosphere and announced the new Internet service. The service will cover every
square foot of space on the planet including any place on the planet’s vast
oceans, the Arctic, the Amazon jungle, Tibet Mountain ranges, or the huge
Russian tundras and African deserts.
Of course the maximum 10 kilobits per second is snail-pace by today’s
communications standards. But provided that people don’t attach large files
the service is sufficient for basic email functionality. "For the first
time, the Internet can be accessed from every part of the globe," said
Iridium Satellite chief executive Gino Picasso. Iridium will not be alone in
offering anyplace-Internet access. Lockheed Martin’s Comsat is heading that
way. As is Inmarsat which has been providing communications services for the
shipping industry for two decades. "We're not trying to compete with
existing telephone infrastructure," said Picasso, adding the company will
be marketing the service to airlines, shipping lines, mines, forestry
operations, oil and gas operations and other remote operations.