Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS)

Experiments

Networking

Since its launch in 1993, ACTS validated NASA’s vision of future satellite communications as well as the needs and applications of users. Over one hundred experiments and demonstrations were conducted in areas such as medicine, industry, education, defense, business, emergency response, land, mobile aviation, marine and astronomy.

Telemedicine

ACTS helped physicians meet the goal of providing high quality, low cost health care to millions of patients in remote areas of the U.S. Physicians performed remote medical diagnosis and evaluation of patients in distant locations. Because ACTS provided real-time voice, video and data transfer, physicians could see and speak with patients as well as receive diagnostic information from stethoscope, ultrasound and electrocardiogram procedures. In one case, a child who had suffered for years from a misdiagnosed skin condition was cured after Mayo physicians, via ACTS, remotely diagnosed the condition as leprosy and prescribed the appropriate treatment.

Industry

ACTS helped create new ways for industry remove time and distance factors from its operations. For example, the demand for new sources of fuel has caused off shore oil exploration to move into deeper ocean waters and to remote regions of the earth, sending capital costs soaring. ACTS has played a vital role in helping U.S. oil companies become more competitive through the efficient transfer and management of information. Under the ARIES (ATM Research and Industrial Enterprise Study) Project, ACTS was used by the petroleum industry to remove time and distance from its operations. Transferring seismic acquisition data via ACTS not only saved months in research time and the corresponding costs, but also provided higher quality seismic data by giving scientists access to the data in enough time to redirect vessels to more promising areas of the ocean.

Education

ACTS demonstrated its capability to be used to provide distant educational opportunities at both the college, secondary and elementary educational levels. For instance, ACTS took U.S. elementary and high school students to the far reaches of the Amazon rainforest, Alaska and Antarctica. Through live audio and video link with ACTS, students at sites in the U.S. were able to do hands-on science, interact with researchers and ask questions. Experts at the Smithsonian Institution were also able to participate from their computers, answering e-mail during and after the broadcasts.

Defense

ACTS aided the U.S. Armed Forces gain experience with satellite supported communications. ACTS capabilities were put to one of their toughest tests during the deployment of U.S. Armed Forces supporting Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1994. During the first month of the operation, ACTS videoconferencing technology was the primary command and control system. ACTS provided the secure audio-video link allowing commanders to talk with General Sullivan, Army Chief of Staff, and former President Clinton. ACTS also functioned in the secondary role of morale booster by providing live video contact between soldiers in Haiti and their families in the U.S.

The U.S. Navy also used ACTS to improve high data rate transmissions from ships. In one experiment involving the USS Princeton, an unexpected use of this technology was demonstrated. An ill master of a Greek merchant ship was taken aboard the USS Princeton and remotely diagnosed and stabilized until he could be brought ashore for lifesaving surgery.