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)

                              July 2, 2004