Word: grounds
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...cheers from the crowd had barely died downwhen almost every spectator, player and coach fellsilent. In the fifth minute of play, Fosterchallenged a Yale player for a header on the nearsideline in front of the team benches. Foster wonthe ball but then fell to the ground, writhing inpain...
...science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke who in 1945 was the first to suggest a band of geosynchronous satellites, dubbed "extra-terrestrial relays," hovering 22,000 miles above the equator and bouncing signals back to the ground. Until recently, most communications satellites have imitated that high-cost-and-high-altitude model, drifting in what scientists call the Clarke orbit...
...trying to fly into space on the cheap, relatively speaking. They rely on so-called low-earth-orbit satellites that zoom just a few hundred miles above the planet's surface. They're cheaper to launch since they weigh less; and since the satellites are closer to the ground, devices with small antennas and comparatively small battery packs can reach them. Most important, signals can go up and return with no perceptible delay, which is vital for voice communications. But more of them are needed to cover the earth's surface, and their expected lifetime--five to 10 years...
...sometimes halfway around the planet. That kind of smarts makes for a system that's more flexible but more expensive and time-consuming to debug. Globalstar is betting on a network of satellites that will act as simple repeaters with all call-setup and processing accomplished in its 60 ground stations. "If you look at the two companies, they're really taking quite different strategies," says Tom Watts, a satellite analyst for Merrill Lynch. "Iridium is taking a global approach. Globalstar is focusing on a few key countries." The total cost to build and launch Globalstar's system? A mere...
...arrangement with existing cellular dealers turns out to be a serendipitous marriage of marketing and technology. Without resellers, customers would be few, and without cell technology, service would be limited. At first Iridium planned a purist, sky-to-ground approach that would have cut out the local cellular-network middlemen. But that wasn't very feasible in the glass-and-steel canyons of bustling cities, where customers would be out of the line of sight of the heavens and service would be spotty. (Imagine explaining to an irked CEO that his pricey new handset won't work from his office...