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To: Valueman who wrote (1192)	4/8/1999 11:12:00 AM
From: Bradley W. Price	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 5853

<<<So, figure 50-60,000 circuits worldwide now, with expansion potential.>>> Assuming you can see all the satellites. I don't know how high G* is putting their constellation but I am assuming half-geo based on 48 sats (I don't think any single company can grab 48 slots in geo, there are not that many available). That tells me you are going to be able to see between 6 and 10 at one time (6 guaranteed with 4 fading in and out). Therefore, you are only going to have about 6-10K circuits available over a geographic area covering about 60 degrees - about 1/3 the U.S. (its been a long time since I done the math, so these are estimates only). This becomes the upper limit on the number of users and pricing has to be adjusted accordingly, otherwise you start getting a lot of dropped connections or busy signals. Oh yeah, because satellites are fading in and out, your switching algorithm has to accomodate that. I don't know what the algorithm is for it, but my guess is that there is at least some reduction in the above number because of that innefficiency otherwise there would be dropped connection every time a satellite fades. If these sats are at LEO, my estimate is that you can divide by 6. You may be able to see one sat at any one time. If you want to figure this yourself, go get a book called Space Mission Analysis and Design. Its written by a former Air Force Academy professor who consults on this stuff. bp