Satellite News

The power of the internet is growing everyday. We read mail over the internet, we read articles over the internet, we play games over the internet. Why not watch TV over the internet? Internet based TV is now a reality thanks to the software entitled “Satellite Direct.”

The next Ariane 5 mission has moved into its final preparation phase as the vehicle for this sixth flight of 2009 is delivered to Arianespace.

State-owned Iranian news channel Press TV reports that the country’s Mesbah satellite was ready for launch (yet again), this time from Iran and not from Russia as planned earlier. This could also indicate an improvement of Iran’s satellite launch capacities.

New Tang Dynasty TV has claimed it has experienced signal interruptions on the ST-1 satellite. Some Taiwanese lawmakers have blamed mainland China of deliberately jamming the channel.

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat) has appointed ViaSat Inc. in a US$46 million contract to provide SurfBeam 2 network infrastructure, operations and maintenance services for YahClick.

“Last Thursday I heard about the [LCROSS] probe the National Aeronautics and Space Administration sent to the moon in hopes of detecting a water source there. … It didn’t land nicely — the newscaster said it was the equivalent of an SUV hitting the moon at more than 5,000 miles per hour. … What if someone or something fired back? What if the moon has something comparable to the San Andreas fault? If the next probe hits such a fault, maybe half the moon will break off and all those pieces will be headed our way.” – Cindy Toopes (who apparently never asked herself why the moon is plastered with craters) in The Ottumwa Courier. This doesn’t seem to be a spoof like The Onion but a real newspaper in a real town in Iowa, USA.

Television certainly has an undeserved reputation for being the tool of the masses. Not only is it elitist and snobby to proclaim, “Oh I don’t watch television,” when asked about a favorite show at a party, it’s simply a lie. The ratings aren’t fake, so it’s impossible that when millions upon millions of people tune in to watch a season finale, there isn’t a smart one in the bunch.

Cooking isn’t a skill with which I was naturally gifted, nor was I afforded many opportunities to learn the art at home. Our family meals often consisted of TV dinners and the morning menu generally featured uncomplicated, well-preserved items such as pop tarts or instant oatmeal. In our house, if you could boil water, operate the microwave oven or work up the strength to press the toaster lever, your culinary education was pretty much complete.