 2.01.04 Anniversary of Space Shuttle Recovery - Satellite Airtime Assistance from Mackay and France Telecom February 1, 2004 marks the one-year anniversary of the loss of seven lives in the Columbia Shuttle tragedy. Last year at this time, Mackay Communications and France Telecom's Mobile Satellite Division each donated $5,000 worth of Satellite Airtime minutes to enhance the communications and data collection from Raytheon's "First Responder" mobile unit, used to aid in the recovery effort. Raytheon's “First Responder Command and Communication Vehicle” provided an integral component to the shuttle recovery mission through its interoperable communications. In continued efforts to support homeland security initiatives, the First Responder vehicle has been reconfigured by Raytheon JPS Communications ( http://www.jps.com/ ) to offer a self-contained communication package that can be easily integrated into any mobile platform. This scalable package combines state-of the-art cellular, radio, satellite, software and Internet technology in to a flexible and easy-to-use package for efficient incident management. The donated satellite minutes from Mackay and France Telecom were used to communicate information via Nera Satcom's WorldCommunicator, utilizing Inmarsat's land-based Global Area Network (GAN) Satellite system. Both companies were humbled at being included in this relief program and hope the investigation will result in avoiding future disasters. Mackay Communications and France Telecom ( http://www.francetelecom-mobilesat.com ) continue to be major participants in providing satellite equipment and/or airtime to assist commercial and government applications for land-based and marine communications and homeland security projects. |
