Stratos provides mountain connectivity for Expedition Bolivia

Stratos Global provided world-renowned adventurer Ray Zahab’s “Expedition Bolivia” with Inmarsat BGAN mobile broadband satellite service. Expedition Bolivia, which was held May 12-24, was the fourth stage of Zahab’s impossible2Possible (i2P) World Expedition Series. This stage took place in the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat high in the Bolivian Andes. In this expedition, Zahab, four Youth Ambassadors and other adventurers took the i2P Experiential Learning Program to the Salar to illustrate the role that chemistry plays in the region, in honor of the United Nations’ International Year of Chemistry (www.chemistry2011.org).

Youth Ambassadors ran an average of a marathon per day for up to one week, a total of more than 200 miles, in a quest to experience Bolivia as few have ever done before. The expedition featured daily experiments that employed the natural elements of the Salar to illustrate the basic principles of chemistry.

The expedition leaders successfully used BGAN from Stratos to broadcast content to their web site http://impossible2possible.com/bolivia/home. They also used the system to maintain contact with their project team, post photos and blog entries, upload videos, and stream live video conferencing into classrooms across North America. The video conferences provided a compelling learning experience to thousands of students. During the expedition, students were able to see and speak with the expedition participants in real time – while learning about the principles of chemistry. Stratos provided BGAN service to other stages of the World Expedition Series, including Running Tunisia and Siberian Express for Water. Stratos Dashboard, the foundation of The Stratos Advantage value-added services, was used to monitor and control BGAN airtime usage.

“Over the years, BGAN from Stratos has provided us with exceptional broadband connectivity in the harsh Siberian wilderness, the Tunisian desert and now the remote Andes mountains,” Zahab said. “I am continually impressed by the system’s durability and reliability, which has helped bring our message of education, inspiration and empowerment to millions worldwide.”

Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm said, “It is gratifying to provide the critical communications service that helped ensure the safety of the young people and organizers participating in this latest i2P expedition. The ability to stream live video from Bolivia into classrooms thousands of miles away helped bring the principles of chemistry to life for a new generation of students.”