Isle of Man-based ManSat Ltd is supporting a new global awareness campaign, ‘How Satellites Make a Better World’, which promotes the impact of satellites on today’s society.

Organised by the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI), the campaign is collecting both heart-warming and hard-headed business stories about the industry’s contribution to the economy, business, international security and human welfare.

More information is available at www.bettersatelliteworld.com.

ManSat carries out satellite filings for the Isle of Man under a contract with the Isle of Man Government's Communications Commission. ManSat CEO and Chairman Chris Stott is also President of the SSPI, with his term ending in March 2015.

He explained: ‘This is a wonderful initiative, which highlights the impact that satellites have on shaping the world in which we live. From an Isle of Man perspective, the last fifteen years, has seen the Island become one of the industry’s global leaders and home to leading firms and nonprofit organisations.’

The SSPI, an international nonprofit group with headquarters in New York, is the satellite industry’s largest global professional association. It is working with five other trade associations to tell the little-known story of the transformative role of satellite technology on disaster relief, disease control, economic development, the spread of democracy and global business.

The SSPI says the global satellite network is ‘one of the stellar achievements of the 20th century’, having transformed telecommunications and introduced technologies such as GPS.  In many ways, the network underlies and enables the global economy and is a bridge to even greater progress in the 21st Century.    

The stories, gathered from around the world, represent a diverse range of successes, from the increased rate of mobile coverage in Latin America, the eradication of polio in India by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to rather eccentric occurrences, including the role of satellite in the design of the modern football.

‘The new campaign is designed to broaden the awareness of the satellite option,’ said SSPI’s Louis Zacharilla, one of the architects of the new campaign. ‘We believe it will help us expand our presence and inform people inside and outside the industry of the role satellite plays as the underlying technology that makes social and economic progress possible.’

The SSPI is encouraging companies and individuals to support the campaign by following the stories on Facebook – www.facebook.com/SSPIglobal - and on Twitter – www.twitter.com/sspi - by using the hashtag #bettersatelliteworld