LightSquared Satellite Disabled By Last Week's Solar Storm

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LightSquared Satellite Disabled By Last Week's Solar Storm

Posted by timothy on Thursday March 15, 2012 @07:50AM from the it's-in-the-cloud dept.

volts writes "Troubled LightSquared's primary Skyterra 1 satellite has been out of service since the solar storm on March 7. The company says it is 'working through the rebuild of the satellite tapping into the resources that were involved in the original program.' This development follows a stream of bad news including layoffs, default on payments, the resignation of CEO Sanjiv Ahuja and FCC rejection of a scheme to repurpose satellite frequencies for cellular data due to interference with GPS. Another kick in the teeth as company struggles to avoid bankruptcy."

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This is a cover-up by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-15 07:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

They'll use this as an excuse for bankruptcy/liquidation/etc. "Don't blame us, blame the Sun."
1. Re:This is a cover-up by MightyMartian · 2012-03-15 08:30 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I was more thinking who they're going to sue over this. Perhaps God, with the God Apollo and the FCC named as co-defendants.
  
  --
  The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
2. Re:This is a cover-up by CAIMLAS · 2012-03-15 09:18 · Score: 2
  
  Try 'insurance claim'. They'll try to cash out their CxOs before bankrupting themselves outright. The layoffs are trying to make that possible.
  
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  ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Interesting by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-15 08:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

Interesting, LS doesn't happen to have an insurance policy on that baby that would payoff if it failed do they?
1. Re:Interesting by tomhath · 2012-03-15 08:51 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  This is much closer to real life than you probably think. After Hurricane Katrina, people found they didn't have flood insurance. So they sued, claiming their house was blown apart by the wind before it washed away.
2. Re:Interesting by Psion · 2012-03-15 09:35 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  And back in the great earthquake of '06, folks set fire to their quake-smashed homes because their insurance covered fire but not quakes. As a result, out-of-control fires caused more damage to San Francisco than the earthquake itself.
3. Re:Interesting by artor3 · 2012-03-15 11:40 · Score: 2
  
  In fairness, many of those people were being honest. A good friend of mine had her home wrecked by Hurricane Gustav. It blew off the roof off the house, allowing rain to come in and flood the interior, destroying basically everything she owned. If it hadn't been for the wind removing the roof, there wouldn't have been any flooding, so I think it's quite reasonable to classify it as wind damage.
  Admittedly, not every homeowner could claim this. In Katrina especially, due to the failing levies, there were lots of houses that were legitimately flooded (i.e. the water levels rose above the ground floor of the house). But there were also lots of houses that were outside the actual flood zones, but which suffered enormous water damage because they no longer had a roof.
Re:good! by mcwop · 2012-03-15 08:03 · Score: 2

Gives Solyndra a whole new meaning.

--
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
English, motherfucker! Do you speak it? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-15 08:08 · Score: 3, Insightful

From TFS:

Another kick in the teeth as company needs struggles to avoid bankruptcy.
Yep. as company needs struggles.
Now I've been around for a while, so I'm familiar with /.'s keyboard-bashing monkey approach to editing, and the general crappy quality of summaries. But it seems to me the last couple weeks have had a high incidence, even by /. standards, of these nonsense phrases in summaries. And it's getting old.
1. Re:English, motherfucker! Do you speak it? by Americano · 2012-03-15 09:24 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I heard what you are said. But in a seriously note, I think you needs struggles to avoid blowing you're top.
  Interestingly, it seemed they will edited the summary to finishing with, "Another kick in the teeth as company struggles to avoid bankruptcy."
  Maybe this been a new approach to editing, and they just randomly insert and words until something vaguely intelligible on the screen?
  (Editors: please consider this post a writing sample for purposes of my employment as a member of the crack /. editing team.)
2. Re:English, motherfucker! Do you speak it? by volts · 2012-03-15 10:22 · Score: 2
  
  When I submitted this article, the preview wasn't reliably displaying changes to text in the edit box; "needs struggles" got by me.
Idea's don't die by DEFFENDER · 2012-03-15 08:19 · Score: 2

They just get hit with solar flares and fizzle out.
Seriously though, the only angle that LightSquard had was, "It's already up there, all we have to do it turn it on..." and that has just gone up in smoke. Just like their business model and momentum. It's time they go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan, get new backers, and find a new way to do what they want to do.

--
Careful what you say around me.. I will assume you mean it.
1. Re:Idea's don't die by riverat1 · 2012-03-15 09:06 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Actually I think if they had just stayed with satellite level signals instead of trying to get their high powered ground source signals approved they probably would have been ok with the FCC.
2. Re:Idea's don't die by ngg · 2012-03-15 10:20 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  There's no 'probably' about it. LS bought spectrum that was specifically earmarked for use in satellite to ground communications (which was why they got such a bargain on it in the first place: no other potential bidder could think of a profitable way to use it). Their problems only began when LS decided that they wanted to use this inexpensive spectrum for ground to ground communications, instead of using a more expensive band like everybody else. They attempted to exploit a loop-hole that the FCC created when it allowed "supplemental" ground stations for sat broadcasts (like for inside tunnels) by launching a sat for an ostensibly satellite-based broadband business (while actually transferring the bulk of the data from ground-based transmitters).
Re:Maybe the universe is telling them something.. by MightyMartian · 2012-03-15 08:32 · Score: 5, Funny

There are nails in the coffin, and then there's the coffin being doused in gasoline, lit on fire, pissed on, dropped from 30,000 feet with lit sticks of dynamite inside.

--
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Insurance by Kozar_The_Malignant · 2012-03-15 09:16 · Score: 4, Informative

According to Space News, "SkyTerra 1 is insured for about $268 million, a policy for which LightSquared paid a $37.5 million premium." You can't talk about actual coverage for a loss without having the policy in front of you. Solar flares are a pretty obvious risk for which you would want coverage, although the obvious big risk is total loss on launch.

--
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
A terrible idea that should have died long ago by SuperKendall · 2012-03-15 09:23 · Score: 3, Interesting

As soon as it was found LightSquared interfered with GPS (which was a while ago) all permission should have been axed and the company disbanded.
Instead, because of heavy donations to the Democratic party they got the blessing of the FCC to proceed despite actual physical interference to others caused by the product, making it inevitable the company could never go to market.
Some partisans will inevitably come down on me simply because of the origin of that news. But you can't deny the connections and how obvious it was the FCC should NEVER have allowed certification not matter who was involved.
Political connections should NEVER override something as important as allowing experiments that interfere with devices as important as GPS!

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:A terrible idea that should have died long ago by artor3 · 2012-03-15 09:59 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  LightSquared made a $30,400 donation to the Democrats in Sept, 2010. One month later, in October, they made an identical $30,400 donation to the Republicans.
  And yet strangely, people like SuperKendall only ever seem to mention the donation to the Democrats. I wonder why that is?
  By the way, why do you feel that the FCC shouldn't have even let them test out their idea? Sure, it was probably doomed to failure, but I don't see the harm in letting them test it out with their own money.
2. Re:A terrible idea that should have died long ago by tomhath · 2012-03-15 10:50 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Maybe because there were several $100K in other donations besides the two you mention?
3. Re:A terrible idea that should have died long ago by artor3 · 2012-03-15 11:23 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Got a source to back that up? I can't find any sources to support your claim, even on the most conservatives sites.
  Wikipedia seems to agree with me:
  
  The Federal Election Commission has no record of Phil Falcone, a registered Republican, nor LightSquared Chairman and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja of having ever contributed to President Obama’s political campaigns.[39] However, since 2007, Philip Falcone has donated $50,500 to the Democratic Senatorial campaign Committee (and $85,500 to Republicans). Both Falcone's wife and LightSquared CEO Ahuja donated $30,400 to the DSCC (Ahuja gave the same amount to Republicans).
  So tell me, where did you get this stuff about "several hundred thousand dollars in other donations"?