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Original air date:
11.14.07
How to Get Your Own Satellite
Adam Rogers has the same problem a lot of us do these days: a whole lot of data coming in. Cell phones, blogs, email, downloaded movies and music, a DVR full of TV shows.
His solution for handling it all: get himself his own communications satellite.
Adam's first stop is the huge manufacturing facility of Space Systems Loral, one of the world's biggest makers of satellites for TV, radio and the Internet. Each one is custom built, and takes two to three years to complete. The price? A mere $200 million or so.
Then, of course, he needs a way to get the gizmo into space. United Launch Alliance, a partnership between aerospace titans Boeing and Lockheed Martin, sells rides on their Atlas rockets. They're not cheap either. The rocket needs to burn some 11,000 gallons of hydrogen and 3,400 gallons of liquid oxygen to get up enough thrust to boost the heavy satellite out of Earth's atmosphere. That costs anywhere from $50 million to $250 million.
The prime place to put it is in geosynchronous orbit - 22,300 miles above Earth. At that altitude, an object orbits at the same speed as Earth rotates, essentially staying motionless relative to some point below, which makes it easier to bounce signals back and forth. But there's only enough room in that orbital band for about 1,100 satellites - and some 900 have already claimed a slot. To get one of the remaining ones, Adam has to apply to the International Telecommunications Union in Geneva, Switzerland.
There are a few more details. Adam is also going to want his own dish farm, to upload data to the satellite. And insurance, both to cover the dangerous launch and for the 15-year projected lifespan of the satellite while it's in orbit. Throw in lawyers' fees and other miscellanea, and all told, we're looking at around half a billion bucks for AdamSat 1.
Tag along with Adam on his satellite shopping expedition. And to see what happens when those satellites stop working and become just so much more space junk, check out Who'll Take Out the Space Trash?
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11.14.07 7:10 PM PST
Frederick Paul Hippmann
I appreciated the 11/14/07 Wired Science very much.A bit of rapid delivery makes it difficult to savor portions. But, OK.
There is much in a day's intake, and not enough time to follow everything interesting up.But we would like to know 1.Where, on this Internet site, to locate the portion with
the children's home-made UFO, and 2. whether and how, this, and future how-to segments, can be purchased, in print form, or, if not, in video form, because to purchase entire broadcasts, (with all of the many other things that invite acquisition, and expenditure of scarce spare time),
just isn't always practical. How can we access advance details about upcoming programs? Thank you. F.P.H.
11.14.07 8:35 PM PST
Carol Douglass
Nov. 14--I really enjoy Wired Science. But when I saw that restless legs--and whether it's a "real" condition or not--was going to be on tonight's show, I had a feeling I wasn't going to like this segment. And indeed, WS seemed to take the view that RLS is only mildly annoying, and may not even exist at all. WS used jokes (Bill Maher) and experts to suggest that the whole thing is just drug company hype.
While I am the first to agree that drug companies have far more interest in their own pocketbooks than in relieving anyone's suffering, in this case I think WS does sufferers of RLS a real disservice. I have had RLs my whole life, and so did my mother, and both her brothers, and on my dad's side, numerous cousins.
It is not just mildly annoying--it feels absolutely awful, really impossible to describe. It's not "mild vibration" like the so-called simulater suggests. It's a dreadful feeling and it is only relieved by movement of the legs. (and it isn't always limited to legs; the whole torso can have this feeling). When I and my fellow sufferers have a period of exacerbation, there are weeks and weeks when it is nearly impossible to get to sleep, and sleep is interrupted all night long. This also happens on airplane rides and other times. I myself don't take meds for this condition, because I can endure it, but I wouldn't blame anyone else for racing to the drugstore.
So, I think this time, WS went too far in sort of "de-bunking" an ad campaign. A noble effort, but for us RLS sufferers (who for years listened to doctors tell us it was all in our heads), it's dismissive, and incorrect.
11.14.07 8:37 PM PST
Mark Lang
An opportunity to add a satellite patent to one's IP portfolio is available. Bidding is open for acquisition of a patent titled, Modular Space Station: which is listed with www.FreePatentAuction.com in the engineering section. Or visit www.NasaSpaceFlight.com and click the "Go Green" ad.
3.4.08 12:42 PM PST
Pharm49
Very nice site!
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