Tcho is also working with cocoa growers, in conjunction with two research groups it has equipped with satellite-internet connections, to help them improve the quality and consistency of their beans.

ECONOMIST: A start-up innovates in an unexpected field

Satellite Sentinel is one of a number of groups trying to gather new kinds of data for public interest work.

FORBES: Satellite Imaging As High-Tech Activism: Can It Scale?

The argument would be that these groups, whose tentacles reach from satellite broadcasting and the Internet to theme parks and shops, have many more ways of pumping out music to record buyers and turning bands into brands, with dolls, games and the like.

ECONOMIST: The music industry

Although a number of other groups in the UK have pursued a satellite launcher capability, the pedigree of SSTL and Virgin Galactic is likely to make potential investors sit up and take notice.

BBC: Plans for UK satellite launcher

In one corner is the MusicFIRST Coalition, which includes the Recording Industry Association of America, several artist groups and SoundExchange, the folks who collect licensing fees from satellite and Internet radio stations and distribute it in the form of royalty payments to musicians.

FORBES: Magazine Article

If representatives of the two groups want to make a public point, the Qatari-owned satellite-television station, Al Jazeera, is at hand to air it.

ECONOMIST: Libya and its militias

These two groups are working towards military applications in which the key is exchanged from the ground to a satellite.

ECONOMIST: Optical communications