How do the climbers keep in contact with home?
The climbers are carrying a small satellite phone that lets them communicate via an INMARSAT spacecraft in orbit at a location above the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Voice and data are relayed via this spacecraft to a downlink station located in Perth, Australia. The signals then travel via transoceanic landlines, across the planet, and back to Expedition Control at the SFU Harbour Centre Campus, downtown Vancouver. Data is collected and stored on a powerful multiprocessor computer at SFU.
