Down to Earth : : Satellite Technologies, Industries, and Cultures / / ed. by Lisa Parks, James Schwoch.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Aslinger, Ben,; Collins, Martin,; Collis, Christy,; Erickson, Andrew S.,; Hay, James,; Kirkpatrick, Bill,; Murphy, Michael,; O’Neill, Brian,; Paglen, Trevor,; Parks, Lisa,; Russo, Alexander,; Sakr, Naomi,; Schwoch, James,; Sturdevant, Rick W.,; Torre, Paul,; Warf, Barney,
• HerausgeberIn: Parks, Lisa,; Schwoch, James,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: New Directions in International Studies
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) :; 8 illustrations

Down to Earth presents the first comprehensive overview of the geopolitical maneuvers, financial investments, technological innovations, and ideological struggles that take place behind the scenes of the satellite industry. Satellite projects that have not received extensive coverage—microsatellites in China, WorldSpace in South Africa, SiriusXM, the failures of USA 193 and Cosmos 954, and Iridium—are explored. This collection takes readers on a voyage through a truly global industry, from the sites where satellites are launched to the corporate clean rooms where they are designed, and along the orbits and paths that satellites traverse. Combining a practical introduction to the mechanics of the satellite industry, a history of how its practices and technologies have evolved, and a sophisticated theoretical analysis of satellite cultures, Down to Earth opens up a new space for global media studies.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- I. Concepts and Cartographies -- 1. The Invention of Air Space, Outer Space, and Cyberspace -- 2. Dethroning the View from Above: Toward a Critical Social Analysis of Satellite Ocularcentrism -- 3. The Geostationary Orbit: A Critical Legal Geography of Space’s Most Valuable Real Estate -- 4. “Freedom to Communicate”: Ideology and the Global in the Iridium Satellite Venture -- 5. The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System: From Military Tool to Global Utility -- 6. Satellites, Oil, and Footprints: Eutelsat, Kazsat, and Post-Communist Territories in Central Asia -- II. Satellite Mediascapes -- 7. From Satellite to Screen: How Arab TV Is Shaped in Space -- 8. Beyond the Terrestrial?: Networked Distribution, Multimodal Media, and the Place of the Local in Satellite Radio -- 9. Crossing Borders: The Introduction and Legislation of Satellite Radio in Canada -- 10. WorldSpace Satellite Radio and the South African Footprint -- 11. Content vs. Delivery: The Global Battle for German Satellite Television -- III. Orbital Matters -- 12. When Satellites Fall: On the Trails of Cosmos 954 and USA 193 -- 13. AFP-731 or The Other Night Sky: An Allegory -- 14 Microsatellites: A Bellwether of Chinese Aerospace Progress? -- 15. Disjecta Membra, the Kármán Line, and the 38th Parallel -- Contributors -- Index