EXHIBIT 31.1


                                  CERTIFICATION

         The undersigned, in his capacity as the Executive Vice President, Chief
Operating Officer and Treasurer of Motient Corporation, being the principal
executive officer, as the case may be, provides the following certification
required by 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

         I, Christopher W. Downie, hereby certify that:

         1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Motient
Corporation, a Delaware corporation;

         2. Based on my knowledge, quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

         4. The other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing
and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

                  (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                  caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
                  under our supervision, to ensure that material information
                  relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                  entities, particularly during the period in which this report
                  is being prepared;

                  (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
                  report based on such evaluation; and

                  (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                  internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
                  the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has
                  materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                  affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
                  reporting; and

         5. The other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on my most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

                  (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
                  the design or operation of internal control over financial
                  reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                  registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                  financial information; and

                  (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                  management or other employees who have a significant role in
                  the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

                                     /s/ Christopher W. Downie
                                     -----------------------------------------
                                     Christopher W. Downie

                                     Executive Vice President, Chief Operating
                                     Officer and Treasurer
                                     (principal executive officer)

                                     May 10, 2005