Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp claims to have beaten Motorola Inc and its Iridium project to the punch with the launch of the Orbcomm communications satellite, which it says will provide the world’s first low-cost global personal communications service – but it is for text and data rather than speech. Orbital Sciences hopes to initiate the service, which involves 26 of the Orbcomm satellites, in the US by the middle of next year, and worldwide by 1995. Each satellite incorporates 17 data processors and seven antennae, enabling it to transmit and receive some 50,000 messages every hour, or over 5m per day for the 26-satellite system. It says ground has been broken in upstate New York for the first station, with three more to be built in Georgia, Arizona and Washington state over the next nine months. Subscribers will be able to send and receive short but vital messages for a few cents each using the company’s planned Orbcomm hand-held communicators, which it says are expected to be priced at between $50 and $400 each. The company says it sees potential applications for the system including two-way electronic mail for next-generation palmtop computers, emergency communications, remote industrial asset monitoring, and stolen vehicle recovery.
