Santa Paula Teleport, California

Located north of Los Angeles, this facility was established in 1975, as part of the government-supported Comsat network, based in Maryland. Today it is one of a few earth stations around the globe connected to the Inmarsat satellite network. Inmarsat was started in the 1970s as the International Maritime Satellite Orgainzation, a not for profit international organization for maritime communications. Santa Paula, and its sister site on the east coast (in Southbury Connecticut) is now owned by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, and provides voice and data communications all over the world.