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Evolution of Satellite Communications

Satellite communications have their origins in 1945 when Arthur C. Clarke proposed using rockets to place relay stations in space. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, launched in 1957 helped demonstrate the possibility of space-based communication although it was not designed for that purpose. Echo 1, launched in 1960, was the world's first artificial communications satellite and helped lay the foundation for today's satellite networks by reflecting signals between different locations on Earth. Subsequent satellites in the 1960s, such as Telstar, Relay 1, and Syncom 2 and 3, helped advance the technology by actively relaying signals across oceans and achieving geostationary orbits.

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120 views2 pages

Evolution of Satellite Communications

Satellite communications have their origins in 1945 when Arthur C. Clarke proposed using rockets to place relay stations in space. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, launched in 1957 helped demonstrate the possibility of space-based communication although it was not designed for that purpose. Echo 1, launched in 1960, was the world's first artificial communications satellite and helped lay the foundation for today's satellite networks by reflecting signals between different locations on Earth. Subsequent satellites in the 1960s, such as Telstar, Relay 1, and Syncom 2 and 3, helped advance the technology by actively relaying signals across oceans and achieving geostationary orbits.

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bandisaidaiah
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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History of Satellite Communications

Today's satellite communications can trace their origins all the way back to February 1945
and Arthur C.Clarke's letter to the editor of Wireless World magazine, Clarke further fleshed-
out this theory in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide
Radio Coverage?, published in Wireless World in October 1945. Decades later a project
named Communication Moon Relay was a telecommunication project carried out by the United
States Navy. Its objective was to develop a secure and reliable method of wireless
communication by using the Moon as a natural communications satellite.
The first artificial Earth satellite was Sputnik 1. Put into orbit by the Soviet Union on
October 4, 1957, it was equipped with an on-board radio-transmitter that worked on two
frequencies: 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. Sputnik 1 was launched as a step in the exploration of
space and rocket development. While incredibly important it was not placed in orbit for the
purpose of sending data from one point on earth to another. And it was the first artificial satellite
in the steps leading to today's satellite communications.
The first artificial satellite used solely to further advances in global communications was a
balloon named Echo 1.[4] Echo 1 was the world's first artificial communications satellite capable
of relaying signals to other points on Earth. It soared 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) above the
planet after its Aug. 12, 1960 launch, yet relied on humanity's oldest flight technology —
ballooning. Launched by NASA, Echo 1 was a giant metallic balloon 30 metres (100 ft) across.
The world's first inflatable satellite — or "satelloon", as they were informally known — helped
lay the foundation of today's satellite communications. The idea behind a communications
satellite is simple: Send data up into space and beam it back down to another spot on the globe.
Echo 1 accomplished this by essentially serving as an enormous mirror, 10 stories tall, that could
be used to reflect communications signals.
The first American satellite to relay communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used
a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting
to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[5] NASA launched the Echo
satellite in 1960; the 30-metre (100 ft) aluminised PET film balloon served as a passive
reflector for radio communications. Courier 1B, built by Philco, also launched in 1960, was the
world's first active repeater satellite.
Telstar was the second active, direct relay communications satellite. Belonging to AT&T as part
of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the
British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post Office) to develop satellite
communications, it was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, the first
privately sponsored space launch. Relay 1 was launched on December 13, 1962, and became the
first satellite to broadcast across the Pacific on November 22, 1963.
An immediate antecedent of the geostationary satellites was Hughes' Syncom 2, launched on
July 26, 1963. Syncom 2 was the first communications satellite in a geosynchronous orbit. It
revolved around the earth once per day at constant speed, but because it still had north-south
motion, special equipment was needed to track it. Its successor, Syncom 3 was the first
geostationary communications satellite. Syncom 3 obtained a geosynchronous orbit, without a
north-south motion, making it appear from the ground as a stationary object in the sky.

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