Learning to Love LEOs ... or NOT

Viasat Chief Executive Officer Mark Dankberg gave a stirring keynote at the recent Silicon Valley Space Week (SVSW) gathering. He highlighted the arrival of direct-to-device communications between satellites and cellular handsets and the emergence of an industry initiative to facilitate that reality - the Mobile Satellite Services Association (MSSA).

At the same time, though, Dankberg concluded his remarks with a foreboding image of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites plunging from the skies (actually burning up in the atmosphere) by the dozens within a few years. His concerns, lumped under the broad heading of sustainability, left a troubling impression somewhat clouding the sunnier prospect of billions of dollars in new revenue from nascent non-terrestrial network communications applications.

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