When you watch the Olympics do you think of satellites? Maybe you should. For many years satellites have been televising sporting events such as the Olympic games, which popularized the phrase "live via satellite" and helped create a common impression of what commercial satellites do for us here on Earth. It was, in fact, a boxing match pitting Muhammad Ali ("The Greatest") against ("Smokin") Joe Frazier in 1975 when satellites were first used to broadcast a single sporting event to the entire world. While satellites still bring us sports, news, and entertainment programming from around the world each day, the commercial satellite industry can and will do much, much more—from delivering high-speed Internet content to taking pictures from space of objects on Earth that are as small as a soccer ball.

Historical Development of the Industry

While you are probably familiar with movies such as Apollo...