Advanced Communications Technology: Inducted in 1997
Think that new cable modem you just got as a gift has high bandwidth? Well, that's nothing compared to satellites using NASA's Advanced Communications Technology.
We've already mentioned several satellite-based inventions that have touched our lives. But ACT helped pave the way for the latest generation of high-speed and high-bandwidth broadcast and communications satellites.
Even now, most satellites broadcast in "shotgun" style, in a wide cone covering the Earth. This is obviously wasteful if the data only needs to reach one small region.
The ACT satellite, launched in 1993, proved among other things that spot-beaming to selected areas of the Earth was possible. It also features a host of other satellite communications improvements, such as high-speed switching and gigabits of bandwidth capacity. These innovations have already been incorporated into satellite phone and TV services.
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