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 (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. 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 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

               (c) 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. The other certifying officer and 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 Operating
                                     Officer and Treasurer (principal executive
                                     officer)

                                     June 7, 2004