Rescue of Iridium's 66 satellites at $5 billion

<<April 5, 2000>>

Gary Garriott <garyg@vita.org>

John Shakespeare <john.shakespeare@js.pentagon.mil>

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>

Peter T. Knight <ptknight@attglobal.net>

Steve Tom <stethen@teleportconsulting.com>

Peter Marshall <pminhindon@aol.com>

Jim Casey <jcasey@ifc.org>

Jim Casey <caseyja@gtlaw.com>

Demetri Heliotis <jheaps@fcc.gov>

Ms. Irene Flanner <iflanner@fcc.gov>

Mr. Tony Trujillo <tony.trujillo@intelsat.int>

Mr. Myron Nordquist <myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov>

D.K. Sachdev <dksachdev@worldspace.com>

Gracia Hillman <ghillman@worldspace.org>

John Mack <jlmack@erols.com>

Dear Gary:
==========

(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I).

At your suggestion, I am distributing this msg to our list.

(2) ATTACHMENT II to VIII are copies of our correspondences with Peter
Knight and Joe Pelton for your reference.

(3) Commander Shakespeare's $3 million/month is lot less than Pelton's $200
million/year (ATTACHMENT VI).

(4) I think that your idea of convening a day workshop in D.C. how to rescue
     Iridium's 66 low-earth orbiting (LEO) satellites (which was constructed
     with $5 billion) may be worthwhile. Pls talk about the workshop with
     Joe Pelton, if you decide to have it.

(5) The key is if the satellite can be used for narrow-band (and preferably
     for broadband) Internet -- e.g., for our Global University System with
     global broadband Internet -- see;
     <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Global_University/Global%20University%20System/Synopsis_11-5-99.html>, and also;
     <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Global_Broadband_Internet/Global_Broadband_Internet.html>

(6) Your Warn and Recovery Net (WARN)" system has already been using a
couple of LEO satellites for humanitarian purposes --<http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.html>.

     If we use them as your system, we may not need high maintenance cost
     either. Also, if some of those satellites fall back to earth, so be it,
     and find out the way to provide similar service with geo-synchronous
     earth orbiting (GEO) satellites.

(7) If we find a way to rescue them, Motorola will not need to waste $70
     million to dismantle them, -- or better yet, we may ask Motorola to
     donate the $70 million for our administering the satellites for our
     humanitarian projects. Their earth stations with satellite tracking
     devices (for which deployment Motorola must have spent substantial
     money) will also not need to be dismantled either and be used for our
     purposes.

          We may of course need to modify their transceivers from analog
          audio to digital Internet. I suppose that their satellites and
          earth station dish antennas can be re-used. After all, satellites
          are theoretically just reflectors/mirrors of electromagnetic signals.

(8) At the workshop, we may also need to find out a way how to intervene the
bankruptcy court decision -- at least to postpone their dismantling
until we find necessary funds to administer them.

Dear Myron:
===========

Is it possible to get help from Senator Burns and Senator Inouye on this?

(9) If this will succeed, the satellites could be a part of our proposed
Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF) -- see;

<http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.html>, and

<http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/GSTF/Synopsis_2-15-00.html>.

Dear Electronic Colleagues:
===========================

(10) Gary and I welcome your comments and suggestions -- better yet, any
funds or info for the funds for this project.

Dear Jim Casey at International Finance Corporation (IFC):
==========================================================

Is there any possibility to divert some of $100 million you
received from Japanese SoftBank recently?

Pls feel free to forward this msg to other appropriate lists.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

From: Gary Garriott <garyg@vita.org>
To: "'Tak Utsumi'" <utsumi@friends-partners.org>
Subject: FW: Iridium
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 09:07:47 -0400

Hi Tak,

I wonder if you remember the message you sent me suggesting that VITA look
into a sort of 'rescue mission' for Iridium. Well, I took your advice to heart
and it appears that such is possible if we can find someone with about $3
million/month to run it! I will try to find out what current revenues are
like on a monthly basis and send that along.

If you could, please run this on your list and see if there is any interest
from anybody. There are lots of humanitarian users who will benefit if Iridium
can stay up there!

Thanks for your interest,

Gary

Gary Garriott
Director Informatics
VITA
(Volunteers in Technical Assistance)
http://www.vita.org
========================================

-----Original Message-----
From: john.shakespeare@js.pentagon.mil [SMTP:john.shakespeare@js.pentagon.mil]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 4:26 PM
To: garyg@vita.org
Subject: RE: Iridium

Mr Garriott,
A rescue mission runs in excess of 3M/month, we're not prepared to shoulder
that burden. The constellation may yet have a patron, otherwise, I believe
Motorola would have already turned it off. If you know of any parties
withpockets deep enough, contact myself or a Motorola representative as soon
as possible; time is in fact running out.

Yours,
John Shakespeare
========================================

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Garriott [mailto:garyg@vita.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 8:37 AM
To: 'shakesja@js.pentagon.mil'
Subject: Iridium

Dear Commander Shakespeare:

You may recall that we had a chat at the SSPI meeting back on March 22. I
left a voicemail for you yesterday.

Since then and the announcement that Motorola might de-orbit all the
satellites, VITA has received a lot of email regarding whether we might
coordinate 'a rescue mission' that would keep the system alive for
humanitarian purposes. All of the scenarios I have seen thus far certainly
include the military (and I remember you mentioning that the military
gateway in Hawaii alone is worth $150 million). I have spoken with a number of
people at both Iridium and Motorola (and DLJ) but haven't quite landed the
righrt individuals. If nothing else, it would be interesting to hold a day-long meeting
so that the issues and possible scenarios, if any, could be hammered out.

I have managed to get some political-level interest. For example,
Ex-astronaut Mae Jemison is interested (she is a good friend of VITA's) and I
believe Jesse Jackson is also having a look at the system as it might
pertain to Africa. One of the emails attached is by Joe Pelton.

If you see any way we could work together, please let me know.

Gary Garriott
Director Informatics
VITA
(Volunteers in Technical Assistance)
http://www.vita.org
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 09:18:44 -0500
From: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi@columbia.edu>
To: Joe Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>
CC: Peter Knight <ptknight@attglobal.net>, David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>,
        Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>,
        Myron Nordquist <myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov>,
        Lane Smith <lasmith@usaid.gov>
Subject: GSTF

Dear Joe:

(1) Pls read
<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge000317.html>.

(2) Iridium with 66 satellites goes out which spent $5 billion.

(3) I wonder if those satellites can be used for broadband Internet.

(4) If so, can you ask someone at Motorola if they can donate them to GSTF at your CITI?

(5) We don't need to use them as they envisioned, i.e., interlinking
among those satellites. We may be able to use them individually for
linking point-to-point (e.g., between the University of
Tennessee/Knoxville and Manaus, Amazon, Brazil, etc.) broadband Internet connections.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 10:01:37 -0500
From: "Peter T. Knight" <ptknight@attglobal.net>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
CC: Joe Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>, David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>,
        Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>,
        Myron Nordquist <myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov>,
        Lane Smith <lasmith@usaid.gov>
Subject: Re: GSTF

Tak you prepared to keep them up there, pay the operating costs, and put new
ones up when they fall down, as they do regularly due to low orbit? If it
cost nothing to keep them there, they wouldn't be burning them up. It costs a
fortune to keep this system functionning, which is why no buyers stepped up to the table.

Peter
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 10:52:55 -0500
From: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi@columbia.edu>
To: ptknight@attglobal.net
CC: Joe Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>, David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>,
        Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>,
        Myron Nordquist <myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov>,
        Lane Smith <lasmith@usaid.gov>
Subject: Re: GSTF

Dear Peter:

(1) I am not proposing to use them as they envisioned -- the way they want to
use the satellites is certainly costly as you pointed out.

(2) Satellite transponder is theoretically a mirror to reflect electronic
waves uplinked from an earth station.

My first question to Joe was if the transponder can handle broadband Internet.

(3) We may not use all of those satellites -- some of them may fall down to
burn up -- and so be it.

(4) What we would next need would be up- and down-linking earth stations.
Since they are low-orbiting satellites, the stations may need tracking devices
-- as Columbia University's dish antenna is tracking Russian satellite.

BTW, VITA's WARN project (one of CITI's adopted projects besides our GSTF)
uses LEO, too.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT V

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 11:41:37 -0500
From: "Peter T. Knight" <ptknight@attglobal.net>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
CC: Joe Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>, David Johnson <daj@utk.edu>,
        Tapio Varis <tapio.varis@uta.fi>,
        Myron Nordquist <myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov>,
        Lane Smith <lasmith@usaid.gov>, Uri Bar-Zemer <uri@ids.net>
Subject: Re: GSTF

Well, I'll leave that to the experts. You can always ask! I think they pay
something to keep them in the slots they occupy (a lot of them). I'll see
what Uri knows about the costs.

Peter
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VI

From: Ecjpelton@aol.com
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 20:58:31 EST
Subject: Re: GSTF
To: ptknight@attglobal.net, utsumi@columbia.edu
CC: daj@utk.edu, tapio.varis@uta.fi, myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov,
lasmith@usaid.gov

Dear Tak, Peter et al: The cost of operating the Iridium system per year is
indeed in the range of $200 million. It will cost $70 million to simply
abandon and deorbit the satellites. Motorola will actually realize a third of
their $2 billion investment by simply abandoning the satellites and thus it
not easy to change the title to anyone else as I explained on National Public
Radio on Wednesday. Conny Kullman and other key officials at INTELSAT are
away in Africa until the end of March. More later. Joe Pelton
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VII

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 21:56:55 -0500
From: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi@columbia.edu>
To: Ecjpelton@aol.com
CC: ptknight@attglobal.net, daj@utk.edu, tapio.varis@uta.fi,
myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov, lasmith@usaid.gov
Subject: Re: GSTF

Dear Joe:

(1) Many thanks for your reply.

(2) We don't need to use their satellites in the same way so that we don't
need to have $200 million to operate them.

(3) Their satellites are already up in the low earth orbit, ready to receive
signals from earth stations. If they will stay up on the orbit, Motorola can
save $70 million.

(4) They must already have earth stations with tracking devices which will
also be discarded.

(5) Therefore, it would be just a matter of if the satellites can be used for
broadband Internet, and if their titles can be changed -- with some tax
exemptions to Motorola and other financiers.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VIII

From: Ecjpelton@aol.com
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 11:12:12 EST
Subject: Re: GSTF
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
CC: ptknight@attglobal.net, daj@utk.edu, tapio.varis@uta.fi,
myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov, lasmith@usaid.gov

Dear Tak: The bankruptcy judge has apparently given authorization to Iridium
to dismantle their system and thus I am afraid that this is a moot question at
this point. It is unfortunate that more thought was not given to innovative
and humanitarian uses that might have been made of at least some of the
satellites, but in conversations with Robert Kinzie, former chairman of the
board of Iridium there is no way that they will change their course of action.
Sincerely, Joe Pelton
****************************************
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Gary Garriott
Director, Informatics
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 12438
Arlington, VA 22209-8438
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Fax: 703-243-1865
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vita@vita.org
ECONET: VITA
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www.vita.org/satvitpo.htm -- Press release on Consorcio SAT/SatelLife/VITA
www.vita.org/consort.htm -- Press release on satellite-users coalition
www.vita.org/slife.htm -- Press release on SatelLife-V

John Shakespeare
john.shakespeare@js.pentagon.mil

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information (CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/index.html
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.

Peter T. Knight
Knight, Moore - Telematics for Education and Development
Communications Development Incorporated (CDI)
Strategy, Policy, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
1825 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1075
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: 1-202-775-2132 (secretary), 1-202-721-0348 (direct)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office), 1-202-362-8482 (home)
ptknight@attglobal.net
webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
http://www.knight-moore.com
http://www.cdinet.com
IP for CU-SeeMe: 198.77.80.46
http://www.knight-moore.com/projects/GSTF.html -- about GSTF

Steve Tom
President
Teleportconsulting
(703) 548-7749
Page: 1-800-206-1671
Fax: (703) 548-2428
stethen@teleportconsulting.com
stephen_tom@teleportconsulting.com

Peter Marshall
Non-Executive Director
GlobeCast
A France Telecom Company
GlobeCast Northern Europe Ltd.
200 Gray's Inn Road
London WC1X 8XZ
England
Tel: +44 (0) 171430 4400 Direct: +44 (0) 1747 820409
Fax: +44 (0) 171430 4321
email: pminhindon@aol.com

Mr. Jim Casey
Knowledge Management Officer
Technical and Environment Department
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20433 USA.
(202) 473-3172 - Voice
(202) 974-4800 - Fax
jcasey@ifc.org

Jim Casey
American Indian telecommunications law.
caseyja@gtlaw.com

Demetri Heliotis
Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20554
202-418-1463
jheaps@fcc.gov

Ms. Irene Flanner
Universal Service Fund
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
202-418-7383
iflanner@fcc.gov

Mr. Tony Trujillo
Director
Public Information
INTELSAT
3400 International Drive, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3098
202-944-7835
Cellular: 301-910-8393
tony.trujillo@intelsat.int

Mr. Myron Nordquist
Legislative Counsel
U.S. Senator Conrad Burns' Office
187 Dirksen Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-2603
202-224-6808
Fax: 202-224-8594
Cell: 301-646-8153
myron_nordquist@burns.senate.gov
http://www.senate.gov/~burns/
804-924-7573 -- at the U. of VA.
Fax: 804-982-2622 -- at the U. of VA.

D.K. Sachdev
Senior Vice President
Engineering & Operations
Worldspace Corporation
2400 N Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20037 USA
Tel: 202 969 6000
Direct: 202 969 6210
Fax: 202 969 6003
dksachdev@worldspace.com

Gracia Hillman
President
WorldSpace Foundation
1730 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W. Suite 1200
Washington, D.C. 20036 USA
Phone(01)(202)861-2261
Fax(01)(202)861-6407
ghillman@worldspace.org
Communications@worldspace.org
http://www.worldspace.org/

John Mack
WorldSpace Foundation
jlmack@erols.com
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA                  *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE                                                   *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education)      *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of     *
*   Global University System (GUS)                                   *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A.               *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676             *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/                            *
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