Emergency Response and Wireless Location Systems     by Manlio Allegra       Home         Topics: Main | 2004 | 2003 |2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997   Terrestar-1 -- World's Largest Commercial Satellite -- Enters Orbit Terrestar-1, the largest and most powerful commercial satellite to date, was successfully launched into geostationary orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the spaceport in French Guiana. TerreStar-1 will be located at an orbital position of 111 deg. West, offering integrated satellite and terrestrial mobile services across the United States and Canada using conventionally-sized dual mode handsets. The hybrid satellite/terrestrial architecture ensures mobile coverage in rural areas across the continent or in cases where the conventional terrestrial services become unavailable. The satellite, which weighs a record 6,910 kg and was built at Space Systems/Loral's Palo Alto, California facility, operates in two 10-Mhz blocks of contiguous MSS spectrum in the 2 GHz band throughout the United States and Canada - with a spectrum footprint that covers a population of nearly 330 million. The satellite uniquely features an 18-meter deployable reflector and an S-band feed array with 500 spot beams. TerreStar has worked with EB (Elektrobit) to develop an integrated satellite-terrestrial smartphone with quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA/HSPA capabilities. In addition to seamless satellite/terrestrial voice handovers, the smartphone is capable of SMS, MMS, IM, Email, Push to Talk and Location Based Services (LBS). Notably, TerreStar will use an all-IP core network, with services based on IMS. TerreStar is also working to integrate Qualcomm's EV-DO-based satellite communications technology into an Alcatel-Lucent base station. The satellite-adapted EV-DO base stations -- developed by Alcatel-Lucent -- will form key components of TerreStar's integrated satellite-terrestrial network. "Today's launch is just the beginning of the TerreStar story," said TerreStar President, Jeff Epstein. "We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead - in both the commercial and government sectors - and we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities." http://www.terrestar.com http://www.terrestar.com 01-Jul-09 Recent Satellite News DISH Network Launches Online Video Portal with Live TV 8/24/2010 Spacenet Awarded $7.5M for Broadband in Alaska & Hawaii 8/23/2010 WildBlue Wins $19M Grant for Rural Satellite Broadband 8/19/2010 First Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite Launched Successfully 8/15/2010 Google Inks Ad Sales Deal with DIRECTV 8/11/2010 EchoStar Selects Widevine for Digital Rights Management 8/10/2010 Lockheed Martin Readies First Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite 8/10/2010 Valero Selects Spacenet for Broadband Managed Services Nationwide 8/10/2010 Inmarsat Plans Ka-band Global Mobile Broadband Service 8/6/2010 Hughes and China UnifiedNet Form Joint Venture 8/3/2010 EchoStar Plans New Data Center in Wyoming 8/3/2010 Sky Deutschland Selects Broadcom's STB Chipset 8/2/2010 Harris Acquires CapRock for $525 Million 7/30/2010 Cable&Wireless Worldwide Closes London Centre 7/30/2010 FCC Explores Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Spectrum 7/15/2010 > More news...   Search  this site   Search the Web   Get Your Column Published Emergency Response and Wireless Location Systems by Manlio Allegra Interview: NSN's Sue Spradley on LightSquared's Wholesale Mobile Data Paradigm by Sue Spradley Mobile Backhaul Transition Requires New Testing by Joe Zeto Cybersecurity Requires Public/Private Coalition by Greg Oslan A Rethinking of Cloud Services and Network Architecture by Jim Theodoras Delivering Scalable Video Solutions <br><i> Advantages of SVC-Optimized QoS</i> by Andy Singleton         E-mail Newsletter Subscribe Now