For those of us old enough to remember the days when only the
Moon orbited the Earth, instantaneous global communication is
something of a technological miracle. The space program may have
been born of the Cold War, but since the launch of Telstar and
the 1967 “Our World” broadcast, it has been increasingly
difficult for news and information to remain sequestered because
of geographic distances.  Many pieces  Today, global
communication by satellite is often taken for granted. The
engineering effort required to design, construct, implement,
maintain and operate all subsystems of a satellite system is
enormous. There’s the design and construction of the satellite,
maintaining earth stations and deployment of transmit and
receive dishes. And one other small detail, the rocket launch of
the satellite into orbit!  The satellite and launch  Satellites
have grown from relatively small sizes (less than 3x3ft) to the
size of an SUV and larger. Launch operations have migrated from
NASA to the private sector.  Equipmen