Perhaps nothing distinguishes Man from all other creatures as much as his ability and his desire to communicate. Satellite technology, in a few short decades, has radically revolutionized how we communicate. Making connections When, in 1945, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke published an article in the magazine 'Wireless World' describing the possibility of a global communications network based on three geosynchronous orbit (that is, with the same period of rotation as the Earth), reactions were skeptical, to say the least. No-one at the time could remotely imagine the immense developments in store for space communications. Today, millions of users around the globe routinely use satellite services for a vast array of applications in work, for leisure, or