The United Nation's Office Outer Space Resolution of Dec 2005:

http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/gares/ARES_60_099E.pdf

31. Reiterates that the benefits of space technology and its applications should be prominently brought to the attention, in particular, of the major United Nations conferences and summits for economic, social and cultural development and related fields and that the use of space technology should be promoted towards achieving the objectives of those conferences and summits and for implementing the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

My comment: Do you believe that the UN/ITU/UNOOSA/WORLDBANK etc etc will prominently bring SWANsat to the attention of the WORLD?

I will hold my breath!

Roger X. Lenard is currently Program Manager, Space Nuclear Systems, Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories. His areas of expertise include: advanced space propulsion technologies and systems/space exploration-policy; commercial space transportation: single and two-stage to orbit systems analysis; nuclear and space nuclear systems safety and environmental analysis and design; strategic defense/ballistic missile defense technologies and systems-policy; space based radar systems; pulse micro-fission neutronics and safety analyses; and weapons effects testing safety and environmental analyses.

Lenard is a retired U.S. Air Force officer, has served on numerous NASA, USAF, and Department of Defense aerospace programs. He has been a featured speaker in technical meetings arranged by professional groups in both the U.S. and U.K., principally on space propulsion and hypersonic flight, and has chaired a number of conferences and symposia. He has authored more than 30 technical papers.

He received his bachelor's degree in physics from Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 1971 and subsequently attended the Air Command and Staff College, Air University, receiving his master's degree in Chemical Physics from the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, in 1981. He is a member of the Society for Automotive Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Every square inch of Africa is covered by satellite bandwidth, but restrictive telecom policies stop this from supporting Africa's development. There are 48 satellites with coverage, pointing 36 Ku-band frequency beams and 28 C-band beams over Africa which can be accessed to provide international and national voice calls, broadcasting, data and Internet services.

Africa's vast inaccessible terrain and insufficient energy infrastructure makes it difficult and costly to roll out wire-line networks and fibre optic links in heartland areas. Low-cost satellite-based Internet therefore responds to the access crisis in the region, and provides a potentially affordable opportunity for connectivity. Until recently PTO's have been the main users of satellite technologies, but some liberalisation is slowly opening up avenues for new licensed service providers to compete for broadcasting, data and lastly voice traffic (see VSAT Licensing Status map). But even where private or public satellite services are allowed, hefty license fees are levied; or are only allowed for monopoly or duopoly operators. It is clear that policies for low cost 'consumer grade' satellite internet access have not yet been developed in many nations.

To overcome the restrictions on access to bandwidth there needs to be an 'Open Skies' policy in order to achieve Africa development goals. Then the conditions for economies of scale will result in lower prices and affordable subscriptions to community access points, SME's, governments and households.

http://www.gvf.org/database/regulatoryDB/africaskiesindex.cfm

The key developmental issues include:  communications payload & the power payload & the frequency & the funding. (Handset not covered in this article)

As you know, the larger the antenna the better amplification/resolution. Most mobile GEO sats (Thuraya) have something like a 14 meter antenna. Imagine a 14km antenna? It would be the equivalent of a super bionic ear hearing data whisper from a mobile device. Think of the inverse, 14 meter "earth-to-space" dishes are powerful enough to look for signals in outer-space. The communications payload, based on Dr. Jim Stuart's recent powerpoint presentation, could allude to new advanced technology called "thin-sat" – transceivers/spot-beams that cover the entire surface of the antennae. They have also noted that the design includes onboard switching & routing – bypassing terrestrial networks, if necessary. (I can't find any patents regarding the communications payload – maybe they are pending?)

BTW, if 14km is true, it is an order of magnitude we have never ever seen.

Nuclear Power. It's the only way to carry w-band information 22,300 miles effectively. Thurya uses 14,000 watts of solar power and at a lower frequency. Imagine what 500,000 watts can do? New legislation has approved a commercial company (IOSTAR) to build a nuclear power plant in space, in conjunction with SANDIA Labs & all the energy & nuclear oversight committees you can think of – including White House Presidential launch approval!  IOSTAR's stated primary use is to be a "space-tug boat", moving space assets around, but other uses can include power requirements communication satellites that IOSTAR are designing.  (Commercial Reusable In-Space Transportation Act of 2002. A Redacted Portion of The Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2003".)

International Astronautical Congress. Oct 2-6, 2006, Page 24 (c4.8/d2.8) – Session Chairman:  Sandia Lab's chief Roger Lenard. He will lead the session entitled:  "New missions enabled by Nuclear Propulsion".

http://home.iitk.ac.in/~ramesh/IAF2006/IAF-Valence2006.pdf  (2.3megs) Conference brochure.

http://www.freshpatents.com/In-orbit-space-transportation---x26--recovery-system-dt20050714ptan20050151022.php (original patent)

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7070151.html Lenard assigns the patent to IOSTAR, July 4, 2006.

2 factors in play here. (a) Usable spectrum. The W-Band, is known as Extremely High Frequency (EHF). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_high_frequency. Although police radar use this spectrum on the horizontal plane & astronomers use it for outer space, to use it on the vertical plane, earth-space & space-earth communications is in the realm of military establishments – one of IOSTAR's directors is 4-star General Tony McPeak, its Chairman build GPS, its president was the founder engineer of Orbital, SWANsat's contractor. Orbital Sciences has Roach, the recently retired AF Secretary.  www.orbital.com; Military projects using EHF: Milstar, AEHT, TSAT: www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/aehf.htm and also  www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/tsat.htm.

(b) Licence to use that spectrum. Getting a licence is expensive. In last years' Senate hearing, Motorola said that 60 megahertz would provide the FCC $10-30B of fees & $233B-$473B of economic activity. Imagine the worldwide economic activity that might be generated with a non-profit communication system that has an exclusive licence to use 10,000 megahertz? SWANsat owns the licence to operate 71Ghz-86Ghz through the host nation of Nauru, who, as a member of the UN, has a right to orbital slots (first in best dressed). Think of the huge hurdles every competitor has? SWANsat/IOSTAR has a near world-wide monopoly. SWANsat/IOSTAR claims a rough estimate of 600 million broadband internet connections & 250,000 TV channels PER SATELLITE.

Unprecedented.

$10B! $2B over 5 years is an upfront, high intense capital investment. No banker/venture capitalist would touch this type of project on one hand, but 10 million connections @ $100 per month is $1B per month revenue on the other is pretty attractive. 600 million connections makes the investment per potential connection very very low (less than $6! per person!) … something that the International community that is concerned with the Digital Divide, Bottom of Pyramid, UN & World Bank – or even a Billionaire or two maybe interested in. Bill Gates invested into Teledesic – (Chief Engineer of Teledesic is Dr Jim Stuart). It failed, because of high cost of landing rights (Iridium per minute charges is still crippled by this) and the low spectrum that was actually licensed. Through William Welty & SWANsat, Jim Stuart has fixed those two errors: the SWANsat Shareware Telecommunications Model & its huge licensed spectrum capacity allows SWANsat to offer a next generation digital TV platform to every country in the world for free, as long as SWANsat can operate in their country, for free.  http://swansat.com/docs/general/shareware_&_summary_&_pyramid.pdf

"A geosynchronous satellite must orbit at 22,300 miles altitude and it must be over the earth's equator. As a result, there are a limited number of "slots" for satellites. The allocation of these slots is carefully regulated by an international governing body. Needless to say, both processes are highly political inasmuch as (1) there are billions of dollars to be made, and (2) few things are more prestigious for a small, newly independent country than to be able to say, "We have our own satellite."  To date (and for the foreseeable future) satellite communications is the biggest and virtually only money-making business in space." http://ctd.grc.nasa.gov/rleonard/regs1ii.html

SEC. 901. SHORT TITLE.

This title may be cited as the `Commercial Reusable In-Space Transportation Act of 2002'.

SEC. 902. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) It is in the national interest to encourage the production of cost-effective, in-space transportation systems, which would be built and operated by the private sector on a commercial basis.

(2) The use of reusable in-space transportation systems will enhance performance levels of in-space operations, enhance efficient and safe disposal of satellites at the end of their useful lives, and increase the capability and reliability of existing ground-to-space launch vehicles.

(3) Commercial reusable in-space transportation systems will enhance the economic well-being and national security of the United States by reducing space operations costs for commercial and national space programs and by adding new space capabilities to space operations.

(4) Commercial reusable in-space transportation systems will provide new cost-effective space capabilities (including orbital transfers from low altitude orbits to high altitude orbits and return, the correction of erroneous satellite orbits, and the recovery, refurbishment, and refueling of satellites) and the provision of upper stage functions to increase ground-to-orbit launch vehicle payloads to geostationary and other high energy orbits.

(5) Commercial reusable in-space transportation systems can enhance and enable the space exploration of the United States by providing lower cost trajectory injection from earth orbit, transit trajectory control, and planet arrival deceleration to support potential National Aeronautics and Space Administration missions to Mars, Pluto, and other planets.

(6) Satellites stranded in erroneous earth orbit due to deficiencies in their launch represent substantial economic loss to the United States and present substantial concerns for the current backlog of national space assets.

(7) Commercial reusable in-space transportation systems can provide new options for alternative planning approaches and risk management to enhance the mission assurance of national space assets.

(8) Commercial reusable in-space transportation systems developed by the private sector can provide in-space transportation services to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, the National Reconnaissance Office, and other agencies without the need for the United States to bear the cost of production of such systems.

(9) The availability of loan guarantees, with the cost of credit risk to the United States paid by the private-sector, is an effective means by which the United States can help qualifying private-sector companies secure otherwise unattainable private financing for the production of commercial reusable in-space transportation systems, while at the same time minimizing Government commitment and involvement in the development of such systems.

SEC. 903. LOAN GUARANTEES FOR PRODUCTION OF COMMERCIAL REUSABLE IN-SPACE TRANSPORTATION.

(a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE LOAN GUARANTEES- The Secretary may guarantee loans made to eligible United States commercial providers for purposes of producing commercial reusable in-space transportation services or systems.

(b) ELIGIBLE UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL PROVIDERS- The Secretary shall prescribe requirements for the eligibility of United States commercial providers for loan guarantees under this section. Such requirements shall ensure that eligible providers are financially capable of undertaking a loan guaranteed under this section.

(c) LIMITATION ON LOANS GUARANTEED- The Secretary may not guarantee a loan for a United States commercial provider under this section unless the Secretary determines that credit would not otherwise be reasonably available at the time of the guarantee for the commercial reusable in-space transportation service or system to be produced utilizing the proceeds of the loan.

(d) CREDIT SUBSIDY-

(1) COLLECTION REQUIRED- The Secretary shall collect from each United States commercial provider receiving a loan guarantee under this section an amount equal to the amount, as determined by the Secretary, to cover the cost, as defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, of the loan guarantee.

(2) PERIODIC DISBURSEMENTS- In the case of a loan guarantee in which proceeds of the loan are disbursed over time, the Secretary shall collect the amount required under this subsection on a pro rata basis, as determined by the Secretary, at the time of each disbursement.

(e) OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS-

(1) PROHIBITION ON SUBORDINATION- A loan guaranteed under this section may not be subordinated to another debt contracted by the United States commercial provider concerned, or to any other claims against such provider.

(2) RESTRICTION ON INCOME- A loan guaranteed under this section may not--

(A) provide income which is excluded from gross income for purposes of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or

(B) provide significant collateral or security, as determined by the Secretary, for other obligations the income from which is so excluded.

(3) TREATMENT OF GUARANTEE- The guarantee of a loan under this section shall be conclusive evidence of the following:

(A) That the guarantee has been properly obtained.

(B) That the loan qualifies for the guarantee.

(C) That, but for fraud or material misrepresentation by the holder of the loan, the guarantee is valid, legal, and enforceable.

(4) OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS- The Secretary may establish any other terms and conditions for a guarantee of a loan under this section, as the Secretary considers appropriate to protect the financial interests of the United States.

(f) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS-

(1) IN GENERAL- The Attorney General may take any action the Attorney General considers appropriate to enforce any right accruing to the United States under a loan guarantee under this section.

(2) FORBEARANCE- The Attorney General may, with the approval of the parties concerned, forebear from enforcing any right of the United States under a loan guaranteed under this section for the benefit of a United States commercial provider if such forbearance will not result in any cost, as defined in section 502(5) of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, to the United States.

(3) UTILIZATION OF PROPERTY- Notwithstanding any other provision of law and subject to the terms of a loan guaranteed under this section, upon the default of a United States commercial provider under the loan, the Secretary may, at the election of the Secretary--

(A) assume control of the physical asset financed by the loan; and

(B) complete, recondition, reconstruct, renovate, repair, maintain, operate, or sell the physical asset.

(g) CREDIT INSTRUMENTS-

(1) AUTHORITY TO ISSUE INSTRUMENTS- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may, subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary considers appropriate, issue credit instruments to United States commercial providers of in-space transportation services or system, with the aggregate cost (as determined under the provisions of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.)) of such instruments not to exceed $1,500,000,000, but only to the extent that new budget authority to cover such costs is provided in subsequent appropriations Acts or authority is otherwise provided in subsequent appropriations Acts.

(2) CREDIT SUBSIDY- The Secretary shall provide a credit subsidy for any credit instrument issued under this subsection in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.

(3) CONSTRUCTION- The eligibility of a United States commercial provider of in-space transportation services or systems for a credit instrument under this subsection is in addition to any eligibility of such provider for a loan guarantee under other provisions of this section.
 
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp107iyAS6&refer=&r_n=hr732.107&db_id=107&item=&sel=TOC_187162&

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2004/Jun/Expanding_Comm.htm

Here's one specific project in the W-Band area, comapatible/competing with SWANsat for frequency allocations.

Northrop Grumman Confirms Advanced EHF Compatibility With Milstar Terminals in U.S. Army, Air Force Tests

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Sept. 5, 2006 –

Nearly two months of rigorous tests conducted by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) showed that Milstar terminals operated by the U.S. Army and Air Force can send and receive data through the next-generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite (EHF) military satellite communications system. The company is providing the Advanced EHF payloads to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Advanced EHF system.

The Advanced EHF communication system will provide global, highly secure, protected, survivable communications for warfighters serving under the U.S. Department of Defense. The Lockheed Martin-led team is currently under contract to provide three Advanced EHF satellites and the mission control system.

"The ability of Advanced EHF to operate with Milstar terminals reduces cost to the U.S Department of Defense and facilitates the military's integration of the Milstar and Advanced EHF systems," said Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman Space Technology. "With this successful payload-to-terminal verification, the Advanced EHF payload is on track to support our military services and allies with faster, flexible, protected communications worldwide."

Testing involved the Army's Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminal (SMART-T) and Single Channel Anti-jam Man-Portable (SCAMP) terminals operating at Milstar low- and medium-data rates, along with the Air Force's Command Post and Lincoln Laboratory's Advanced EHF Universal System Test Terminals (AUST-T). Tests are planned for U.S. Navy terminals in the near future.

The results contained in this submission were generated in whole, or in part, through work supporting the MILSATCOM Systems Wing. The MILSATCOM Joint Program Office, located at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contract manager and lead agency for the Advanced EHF program.

http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=104702