Geostationary Communication Satellite 1964

The Hughes Aircraft company facilitates phone calls between continents.

Geostationary Communication Satellites:

      In 1945, in an article entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays British novelist Arthur C.Clarke described a way to bounce information off orbiting satellites so one side of the earth could communicate with other almost instantly. Although the idea had been put forward previously by Russian Scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, it was Clarke's detailed description that caught the attention of Harold Rosen of Hughes Aircraft Corporation. In 1961 the project, called The Synchronous Communications Satellite Program was given funding to make it happen.

Synchronous Communications Satellite Program:

      A mere seventeen months later the satellite Syncom I was launched, but it stopped sending signals before it reached the orbit. Syncom II, which followed in 1963, achieved a geosynchronous orbit ( it traveled at an inclined angle, so was not stationary above one spot) but nevertheless proved the concept with a two-way satellite call between President Kennedy in the United States and Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa in Nigeria. Syncom III finally achieved a true geostationary orbit in 1964 and transmitted live television coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games to North America and Europe.

Geostationary Orbit:

      Today, due to the proliferation of satellite-building worldwide, establishing a satellite in geostationary orbit is not simply a matter of launching spacecrafts as required. Satellites traveling at the same speed as Earth in geostationary orbit must all occupy a single ring 35,800 km above the equator. The satellite have to be spaced apart, so the number in geostationary orbit is naturally restricted. Those countries wishing to maintain satellites in the skies above their longitude, as well as those wanting to control airspace above the equator, are governed by International Allocation Mechanism.

Quotes:

 " In the long run ... the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative"

                                                                                       -Arthur C.Clarke, novelist and writer.

Text Credit : Inventions that changed the World

Tags: Satellite Radio Communication | Scramjet | Space Probe | Geostationary Communication Satellite