EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

         The undersigned, in his capacity as the Executive Vice President, Chief
Financial Officer and Treasurer of Motient Corporation, being the principal
executive officer and principal financial officer, as the case may be, provides
the following certifications 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 (the "Company");

         2. Based on my knowledge, this 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
Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

         4. I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
15d-15(e)) for the Company and have:

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

          (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls
          and procedures and presented in this report my 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

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

         5. I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal
control over financial reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit
committee of the Company'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 Company'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 Company's internal
          control over financial reporting.

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

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

                                      April 23, 2004