Not Just for Soldiers

The military's use of commercial communications satellites has mushroomed in the past decade. But civilian agencies also are becoming bigger consumers of satellite bandwidth-the measure of how much data a satellite can transmit.

The Federal Aviation Administration relies on satellites to manage air traffic. The FBI is building a multistate data network that will rely principally on orbiting transmitters. And agencies as seemingly disparate in mission as the U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal Emergency Management Agency all use satellites.

The commercial market for satellite applications-such as television and phone services-has dwindled, and satellite owners and operators see the federal government as the growth market. At a recent conference in New York, executives from some of the biggest companies agreed that the Homeland Security Department could launch the next big boom in satellite use.

The department's U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US VISIT) program to track foreigners as they cross U.S. borders will rely heavily on satellite communications to keep remote border outposts in digital contact with each other and headquarters. The United States shares 7,514 miles of border with Canada and Mexico, much of it devoid of human presence and Internet service. Satellites could mitigate that isolation.

"I'm not sure there's going to be one big break" in homeland security, says Mike Cook, the general manager of Hughes Network Systems' government unit, which constructs high-speed, satellite-based data networks for agencies. "I think it's going to happen gradually." Other industry leaders agree that satellite contracts will come piecemeal. But since government is now an essential customer, companies are willing to be patient.