TU SAT1 -> Purpose -> Missions
TU Sat 1: Missions

Among the many challenges missionaries face, lack of communication has remained a stubborn issue. While the Americas and Europe enjoy both an abundance of high tech choices of communication, many missionaries operate in areas as developed as the United Sates was in the 1700's. Under these conditions, missionaries in rural areas have three options for sending written messages: 1. regular paper mail, which may take months, 2. radio modems, which are bulky, have a slow data rate, and require a nearby base station, or 3. satellite communication, which is expensive and has a slow data rate.

The TU Sat 1 Program envisions the beginning of a solution to this problem. This prototype satellite will prove a low cost e-mail system is possible. As long as a missionary has a portable ground station to attach to their computer, they can transmit a text file, document, or picture to the satellite. The information can then be downloaded to the Taylor University base station and sent out to the appropriate recipient. The entire process will require no more than a day.

This service will aid missions in may ways. It will:

  • Reduce the sense of isolation many missionaries face.
  • Allow missionaries to seek advice and information from their missions organization or doctors, linguists, educators, multicultural experts, and technical experts.
  • Enable donor churches to keep updated with the accomplishments and needs of their missionaries.
  • Empower one missionary to communicate with another missionary across their nation.
  • Permit medical professionals to write specialists in the United States.
  • Provide a form of emergency contact.
Although TU Sat 1 is only a prototype, the e-mail service it provides could eventually include up to hundreds of individual missionaries and last from one to three years. It is our hope that TU Sat 1 will not only prove the possibility of low cost e-mail, but actively provide low cost e-mail to aid mission needs. It is the first of a new generation of satellites which will offer ever increasing communication capabilities.