Word: iridium
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...bounce a cellular call from one to another, then beam the data stream downward 420 miles to one of 12 earth stations where the call would enter the terrestrial telephone network. Motorola dubbed the system--and the company it spun off to build and operate it--Iridium, after the 77th element on the periodic table. (After trimming the number of satellites required to 66, Motorola wisely chose not to go with the name of the corresponding element, the practically unpronounceable Dysprosium...
...vulnerability. The firm counts on tech-heavy businesses that may tank if spending by telecom firms softens. But Galvin has convinced Wall Street that he can keep revenues growing. Motorola stock hit a new high of $86 last week, and investors snapped up $800 million worth of bonds for Iridium, an ambitious Motorola-backed satellite project. Now that's mobile electronics. Grandpa would surely approve...
...come on the line. If Fred is too busy negotiating the rapids to talk, you can always leave him a voice- mail message. The reach of phone systems continues to extend across the planet, as cellular transfer stations are built and communications satellites are launched. If Motorola's ambitious Iridium satellite project is ever completed, prospectively in 1998, virtually no place on earth will be out of range. Satellites are also making possible commercial use of the Pentagon- developed global positioning system, which was employed by soldiers using handheld monitors during the Gulf War to pinpoint their location...
John Cobuzzi, a technician at the CfA, helps to develop mirros for a NASA X-ray studying telescope. Nestled in a lab filled with imposing rhinoceros-sized equipment designed to measure iridium lenses, Cobuzzi says the best thing about the CfA is "the "people here, the living knowledge...
Gates demonstrated the scope of his goals once more last week by taking on Motorola with his Teledesic proposal. Motorola has announced plans for its own satellite-linked worldwide system, through a new firm called Iridium. While Iridium is designed for portable devices such as phones and hand-held computers, Teledesic is intended for fixed locations, such as offices. Both ventures will compete with the U.S. phone companies, which are busily laying cable for a fiber-optic system costing at least $100 billion that will carry video signals and data as well as voice communications. Both systems will also require...