Page 16 - Communications Satellites Global Change Agents

PREFACE XV

lite. (This is a process that may ultimately undercut the power of presidents and
lessen the role and influence of nation-states as we begin a new millennium.)
• Creating a global capability to transmit over 12,000 high-quality TV chan-
nels on a simultaneous basis throughout the world, distributing drama, concerts,
sports, news, sit-coms, and movies to even the most remote locations.
• Contributing to the dramatic spread of scientific knowledge and information
anywhere, anytime to virtually anybody and spurring and nurturing the growth of
new technology at unprecedented speeds.
• Reaching, connecting, and delivering health care and education to even the
most remote and developing countries (with over 7 million in China and India
now relying on satellites as an educational lifeline).
• Building and frenetically interconnecting an ever-changing and dynamically
live global network. The Internet is an electronic network that is redefined and up-
dated in tiny increments of a second. It creates planetary linkages, but even so
global satellite networks have not solved the problem of the digital divide. Those
in the satellite world remain greatly concerned about societies that are being left
behind economically, educationally, and socially.

There has been a surfeit of good, scholarly, and useful books about satellites
over the years, although some have been as dull as thick molasses dripping on a
pancake. Few have looked at the synoptic impact of satellites on our world and
how the various elements of the satellite world interact and change global mar-
kets, world news and entertainment, telecommunications technologies, education,
health care, politics, and ultimately our future potential. Show us an exciting and
stimulating book about science and technology and its policy impacts, and we will
show you an exception to the rule.
Some of these satellite books have described the vivid history and pioneering
thinkers and innovators who were involved in the development of satellite net-
works. Other publications have addressed the policies and legal/regulatory issues
of the satellite world as they have unfolded over time. Some treatises have ex-
plored the fascinating and difficult technology required to design larger, more ca-
pable, and cheaper satellite systems. Yet other analyses have addressed or sought
to address the business, financial, cultural, social, and educational aspects of sat-
ellite communications.
This book has a different mission. Its goal is to approach the subject of com-
munications satellites in an interdisciplinary way. We have tried to present all
these different and sometimes conflicting facets of satellite communications to-
gether in a synoptic way. We have tried to capture, integrate, and analyze the
broader fabric of change and innovation that satellite communications have
brought to our planet over the last four decades and then interpret what changes
the satellite systems of the 21 st century will bring tomorrow.