Per Aspera: Who Controls The Air?

Most Americans have no reason to think about the electromagnetic spectrum. It is invisible, silent, and — until something goes wrong — effectively unnoticed. Yet spectrum is the medium that carries everything the country depends on: aircraft navigation, wireless broadband, satellite links, weather radar, GPS, emergency services, and the command-and-control backbone of national defense. Because our airwaves are out of sight, out of mind, few grasp just how finite they really are. That there are hard physical limits. That we live inside them without seeing them, and only notice the walls when we’re about to crash into them. This is the story of how America is losing control of its own atmosphere, and what we can do to win it back.

Article by Jeff Crusey & Ryan Duffy. Read the full piece here.