With the shutting down of UPOC.Com, SpaceLaunchInfo.Com will close it's Launch Status text message service on 2011-11-30. UPOC originally stood for 'Universal Point Of Contact', but in recent years the company thought of it's name as 'just another new Internet word'. UPOC was established in the early days of text messaging, when the mobile phone carriers were working hard to sell the service to the public, and before texting 'took off' and became the all encompassing service that it has become today. =
Early in 2005, I was standing along the Indian River waiting for an unmanned launch, when word came over the local Ham Radio repeater that the launch had been 'scrubbed' (cancelled) for the day. I got in my car, started driving South on US-1, and noticed people were still waiting along the river, looking toward the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. I realized they hadn't yet gotten 'The Word'. I felt bad for them. Those folks obviously didn't have a 'scanner' radio that could tune to 146.940 MHz in the 2 Meter ham band where I got my information (you don't need a ham license to listen to ham frequencies, just to transmit), but is there anything I can do to get 'The Word' to them? Since Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Mobility) was my mobile carrier, I went to my local Cingular Wireless store and asked if there was any way to send Group Messages to mobile phone subscribers. They told me to look up UPOC.Com. When I did look around the web site, I found they were everything I needed - it was even free to use! I couldn't afford not to start the text message extention to SpaceLaunchInfo.Com. The 'Launch Holds & Scrubs' community was 'founded' on 2005-01-18 (I've used the International Standard Date Format ISO 8601, which is in computer sortable order, since 1975). I had started SpaceLaunchInfo.Com on 2003-09-12 when a friend I'd been working with became ill, and could no longer publish her newsletter 'SpaceLaunch News'. I provided articles, and laid out the publication in Pagemaker, she handled the printing, and I and some others would deal with distribution. On Launch Day of a Space Shuttle flight, we'd hand out copies of the newsletter to the tourists lining the Indian River, providing them with information on the astronauts and payloads they were about to see launched on the Space Transportation System, more comonly known as the Space Shuttle. I have operated for years under the concept of 'Share The Knowledge', and when the outlet for getting information to the public was closing down, I felt it my duty to start my own. The 'Space·Launch·Info' newsletter was created. I wasn't as good as Mary at getting advertisers, so I charged a couple of bucks for mine, and surprisingly enough, people thought it was worth it. The text message service became a free extention of the newsletter. Back when i started this, there wasn't much else around. I like to think that I was the inspiration for the Forida Today text message service, but I may just be flattering myself. They'd be a good one to switch to, because they, like me, only send out information on launches from The Canaveral Spaceport, with limited coverage of astronauts going to the International Space Station on Russian spacecraft. An 'all-encmpassing' text message service comes from SpaceFlightnow.Com. Their messages will come at all hours of the day and night, covering launches from every space center on Earth. If you live on The Space Coast, and just want a Heads Up on when to stick your head out the window at Launch Time (the reason behind my text message service in the first place), then the Florida Today service is all you need. Sign up at Florida Today (click on "Alerts"). If you want everything, sign up for the SpaceFlight Now Twitter Feed (or send "follow spaceflightnow" to 40404). If you were on my UPOC message feed in the past, I hope you enjoyed it. Please bookmark my mobile site on your mobile phone, and come along for what the future holds. Once others follow in my footsteps, it's time to break new ground. =
Now here's a Dirty Little Secret of mine. The folks at Spaceflight Now are Heros of mine. I consider them the most trustworthy source of launch information on the Internet. Yes, more trutworthy than NASA itsef, since SFN updates their pages more often than NASA does. While my Launch Text service only covers launches from the Canaveral Spaceport (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and the Kennedy Space Center), SFN covers launches all over the world. This can be inconvenient, since this can mean text messages coming in the middle of the night. Lots of them. About Kazahkstan. Or India. Or Japan. Or China. Even California. I'll turn off my phone some nights, and let the messages catch up in the morning when I turn it back on. If I didn't have an Unlimited Text Message package on my phone, I'd be in real trouble. I ran my service considering that people didn't have an unlimited text package, and tried hard to hold down the number of text messages I sent out. Did you ever wonder why I never sent a text message at liftoff? It's because I was usually out there watching the liftoff myself. And because the service was meant to let people know that liftoff was coming so they could watch it too. After I got complaints from people who were not in the Canaveral Spaceport area, and wondering if the launch went well, I started sending out messages when a payload achieved orbit. (Hi Izaac) So Now What?
When I started my text message service, there wasn't much else around to do the job. I hate re-inventing the wheel, so I'm getting out of text messaging, and leaving it up to SFN and Florida Today. What I am doing, is creating web sites suitable for reading on mobile phone web browsers. On your phone, please visit one or the other of these links: Both addresses go to the same webspace (making it easier on me for editing). It's the Space Launch Info Mobile Web Page. "M." for mobile, "S.PH2" for Space at PHone PHriendly, my web company that creates mobile web sites, with a short, mobile friendly address scheme. When SpaceFlight Now sets up their Launch Status Page for any given upcoming rocket launch, they have a "Frame" in the page that they constantly update until the payload is in orbit. Some smartphones can handle frames, but most simple mobile phones cannot. On my Mobile Space Information Page, I have a link to the page the Frame reads, allowing users of simple mobile phones to get the latest scoop from SFN. They know about my link, and I've heard no complaint from them. Just press the digit '1' on your phone dial, and it will bringup the SFN Status page for the next launch. For the "touchscreen crowd" that doesn't have a physical dial on their phone any more, I have an image of the #1 key from a touch-tone telephone dial they can "tap". And feel free to send me text messages of encouragement. They've always been appreciated. =
So that's the story. I'm closing down my text service to make way for the Johnny Come Lately's. I'll maintain the Mobile Web Links, so you can get the information you want fast, when you want it fast - on your mobile phone. Let me know what changes to make to make it more usefull for you. Call, Text, or e-mail me. Thank you.
SLI@SpaceyIdeas.Com
Phone: 3-2-1-Liftoff
+1 321 543-8633
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