Space Products & Innovation
Students Get GPS Phones
In response to the tragic events at Virginia Tech in the spring of 2007, several colleges have begun distributing GPS phones with tracking devices to students.
How Safe a Driver Are You? GPS Might Answer that Question
Vehicle tracking technologies are developing in sophistication to support consumer safety applications. A number of automakers now provide in-vehicle GPS devices that can monitor location, speed, use of safety belts, and the presence of passengers.
You Can Run, But Hiding…
Police use GPS technology in a number of novel applications. Embedded GPS chips are replacing exploding dye packs as a more efficient way to foil bank robbers in some U.S. cities. The practice allows officials to track stolen money with unprecedented precision.
Detecting Poachers in Africa
Satellite technology can be critical to managing resources and protecting endangered species in natural areas with little existing infrastructure. The use of satellite images allows researchers to study patterns of deforestation caused by logging and land-clearing in remote areas of Africa and South America.
Watching the Polar Ice Caps from Space
Space assets are also responding to environmental challenges. In 2007, satellite monitoring of the polar ice caps by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, showed that the cap of floating sea ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank more than one million square miles below the average minimum of previous years.
Collaring and Tracking Coyotes
Among the examples of the role of space in wildlife and resource management, New York State is sponsoring a study on the behavior of coyotes, which have become an increasingly visible part of life in many suburbs. The study involves the use of GPS collars to track the patterns of coyote movement.
Testing Inflatable Space Modules
Bigelow Aerospace, an entrepreneurial company based in Nevada, has taken steps toward providing potential in-space accommodations with the successful launch and operation of two expandable modules: Genesis I and Genesis II.
The Fifth Space Tourist
While communications satellites have long been used to help travelers arrange accommodations on Earth, commercial companies are developing an ability to provide accommodations in space. On April 7, 2007, software developer Charles Simonyi, the fifth orbital “private space explorer,” launched into space for a nearly two week stay aboard the International Space Station.
Cellphone Roaming in the Middle of the Ocean
In 2007, SeaMobile Enterprises, a provider of maritime voice, data, and Internet connectivity, announced a move into content delivery through a subsidiary, Wave Entertainment Network. Content comes to the ship live via SeaMobile’s Maritime Telecommunications Network, which can be cached onboard and shown in a “normal” time slot within the guest shipboard schedule.
Improved Communications While Cruising
A number of new satellite applications help cruise ships provide greater connectivity to their guests. Satellite communications have always been important to connectivity on cruise ships but the diversity of communications options to which guests have become accustomed is driving a number of innovations.