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Re: (meteorobs) Meteor Trails Are Being Used As Cheap Alternative To Satellite Systems (fwd)





Hi,

A similar company effort called 'Meteor Burst Communications' is
operational in The Netherlands since 2-3 years. Visitors of the 1996 IMC
have heard a talk on that.

-Marco





At 16:28 1998-08-14 -0300, you wrote:
>New Scientist
>
>UK Contact: Claire Bowles
>claire.bowles@rbi.codot uk
>44 171 331 2751
>
>US Contact: Barbara Thurlow
>newscidc@idtdot net
>(202) 452-1178
>
>EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 12 August 1998 at 2:00 p.m. EDT
>
>Meteor Trails Are Being Used As Cheap Alternative To Satellite Systems
>
>Cold War Legacy Has Ended Up On The Streets Of Seattle
>
>A COMMUNICATIONS system developed to keep the US military talking
>after a nuclear war is now helping a private ambulance company
>monitor the movements of its vehicles.
>
>During the Cold War, the US military developed a method of sending
>data by bouncing radio signals off meteor trails. Every day more
>than a million specks of dust enter the Earth's atmosphere from
>deep space and burn up, leaving trails of particles. Amateur radio
>operators had noticed in the 1920s that they could bounce signals
>off these trails. Although the trails last only a few tenths of a
>second, there are so many that at any given time there are usually
>enough for a ground-based transmitter to work with.

References: