Soul of a New Satellite

A recipe for controversy: Start a company to do something in space faster, cheaper and better than NASA can. Such a company was Orbital Sciences Corporation, and specifically its OrbComm Division, which Gary Dorsey profiles in this book.

The company had a rocky beginning.

As a startup, Orbital Sciences ran into trouble during its IPO. Its president, David Thompson, made the mistake of telling an interviewer from the Wall Street Journal about his personal vision of space flight. Well, obviously a flaky guy like that shouldn't be in charge of a public company. There was a big foofarah over this non-problem, and the IPO was delayed a couple of weeks as a result.

The OrbComm Division faced much more substantial troubles. In addition to strong competition for its messaging and vehicle-tracking services, OrbComm faced hardware-development hitches, marketing challenges, and a constant struggle for financing. Gary Dorsey followed them closely for three years, and Silicon Sky is his report on them.

SILICON SKY

Gary Dorsey
Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1999

ISBN 0-7382-0094-8

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