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ESA to Give New Life to Old Satellites

Posted by chrisd on from the space-is-still-pretty-cool dept.

JPNews writes "The European Space Agency is designing a program (www.esa.int) to re-configure dying television transmission satellites to be used as a XM Radio-like satellite radio network. 'Once in position, 35,000 km away in space, TV satellites will remain in orbit forever, but their useful life amounts to 15 years or less... further life can be squeezed from a low-propellant TV satellite switched over to mobile digital radio broadcasting where precision position control is less important.'"

2 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Dear Apple, fix me by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    eat my ass for modding me down.

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  2. Satellites = $$$ by Eese · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Because there is a limited amount of ideal space around the Earth, I can't see this idea working for long. Before long, a higher bidder will come along and pay for the removal of the old satellite so that his new one can make use of that space.