#DarkAgesSucked
Remember the Dark Ages?
I’m not talking about the last decade, when the New York Yankees failed to win the World Series. I’m going a little further back. From 476 until the year 999, give or take. I mean, no one woke up on a Sunday morning in the year 1000 and tweeted: “Soooo happy the Renaissance finally got to Europe. Super glad Dark Ages are over. They were definitely not dope. #DarkAgesSucked.”
A similar discussion STILL is being had in parts of the world where broadband has not yet reached regions and large swaths of nations sufficiently enough to bring them into the Digital Age. It is like NOT having the railroad run through your town. They are missing a vital link that enables commerce and education to flow, healthcare systems to extend lifespans and the access to satellites to manage agricultural output.
Whether you like the word ‘globalization’ or not, my takeaway from hosting the five Better Satellite World podcasts for this series on “Bridging the Broadband Gap” is that the kind of globalization the satellite industry offers brings a renaissance into places hungry for it. The “G word” means “Good” when delivered to the wholesome.
Remember, the “Dark Ages,” according to some (not all) historians, was a time when cultural advancements STOPPED. Trade floundered and eventually flopped. Conciliation and collaboration, the heart of business and human temperance, and the two things which follow social and economic acceleration, all but ended. In short, it was the death of healthy globalization and of human achievement for a time. It was also the end of the “connectivity” of robust trade routes and diverse peoples.
The New Railroad
Robert Bell, John Jung and I discussed this in our book Broadband Economies way back in 2008. In short, we made the claim, based on our observation of cities and places that had embraced connectivity of the type satellite and fiber provide, that without the “new railroad,” you might stay stuck with the old one. Nothing wrong with trains. I love them. My grandfather worked to make them run. They certainly still have their role in the modern economy. But the direction for places and people left out of the race in the digital age is up there, where orbital slots are found.
My podcasts ranged across the world and went in a lot of directions as they often do. (www.sspi.org/cpages/bridging-the-broadband-gap-podcast) But each ended in the same place: the field where industry professionals and SSPI members labor to make the world better.
People who, like my grandfather, work to make the new train run on time. They should be considered heroes. One stuck in my mind, perhaps for an obvious reason.
Making the World a Better Place Through Satellite Connectivity
Hellas Sat is in a unique position to eliminate the digital divide in many areas. The company received an award from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2022 and a Better Satellite World Award from SSPI in 2021 for enabling broadband connectivity places such as 127 public clinics and hospitals in Zimbabwe. Also for its efficient collection and distribution of health data to policy makers.
Hellas Sat made a difference with genuine passion for making the world a better place through satellite.
In the second episode of the Bridging the Broadband Gap podcast series, Kendeas (“call me Ken”) Karantonis, Space Programs Manager at Hellas Sat, who has been with the company for nearly 20 years and is entitled to be a little blasé about his work was anything but.
Ken talked about the company’s approach and goals for closing the digital divide in places that have suffered due to lack of connectivity and how Hellas Sat makes such goals financially feasible.
Ken manages the company’s ESA and EU research and innovation strategic programs dedicated to space and ground systems development. He managed the Hellas Sat 4 program end-to-end, all the way through launch and in-orbit commissioning. Before that, he served for 11 years as Senior Satellite Operations Manager, a role in which he supervised the engineering team responsible for fleet monitoring and anomaly resolution.
Living Your Bliss
What is NOT an anomaly in the space and satellite industry is what Ken told me about how he feels about his job. Listen closely to the podcast because this is what living your bliss is about. Ken tells the Better Satellite World audience that he still has incredible passion and enthusiasm for what he does because he knows his work impacts millions of lives. Gives them connectivity. Brings the digital railroad to town. “Scroll this way. Watch the platform.”
Yeah, the internet can be an electronic circus. It can be the place “where thinking goes to die.” But it is really the tool that allows people in Cyprus, Africa, the rural corners of America and Canada and Brazil and you-name-the-place-you-call-“home” to wake up every day and to NEVER say, “I wish these Dark Ages would end. They really suck.”