[FPSPACE] Re: Iridium destruction set

[Benigno Muniz Jr.]

At 09:42 AM 8/25/2000 -0400, Robert G Kennedy III wrote:
> >other exceptions. Motorola will decommission the constellation by thrusting
> >the 1,460-pound satellites toward Earth for burnout in the atmosphere. Thus
> >ends the world's first MSS carrier. Reported by Newsbytes.
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm sure that's news to Inmarsat!  :-)

a) "85. Land-Based Inmarsat-A Terminals. The oldest type of Inmarsat *MSS* 
[emphasis mine.  BM] terminal still in use, Standard-A, uses analog 
modulation."  from 
<http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/International/Notices/1999/fcc99037.txt>

b) "Inmarsat-A is a satellite communications system, providing mobile 
communications between mobile users and the terrestrial networks since 
1982."  from <http://www.inmarsat.org/support/tools/pdfs/adc-basics.pdf>

Using the strict MSS definition of "frequencies used", or the more general 
one of "mobileuser-to-satellite", Iridium was the most publicized, but not 
the first.  Only if you define it at ""mobileuser-to-satellite using 
something smaller than a  briefcase-sized phone" (i.e. Inmarsat M, 
MSAT/AMSC) does Iridium qualify as first. Robert, is that actually what 
Newsbytes reported?

Ben Muniz  bmuniz@rain.org
"Man will not fly for fifty years": Wilbur to Orville Wright, 1901