USA achievements in satellite communication

In 1906 USA launched Echo-I which was the world’s first communication satellite. It was a great balloon, as big as a ten-storey building, made of Mylar, only half the thickness of cellophane.

A thin coating of aluminium reflected radio signals from the coast and gave echo its star-like lustre. That year many eyes watched this new ‘star’

In 1962 the USA launched Telstar. Unlike Echo I, which passively bounced back signals, Telstar could amplify the radio signals thousands of times. But it could relay messages only when placed between the sender and the receiver in the geostationary orbit.

In 1965 a small satellite called Early Bird was parked over the equatorial Atlantic. It relayed nearly 240 telephone calls simultaneously, between America and Europe. It also carried a TV channel. Though it had been built with a life expectancy of 18 months, four years after launch it was brought out of retirement to broadcast the investiture of the Prince of Wales, which nearly 500 million people watched.

Live via satellite. This paved the way for Intelsat in 1965. In 1983, 15 satellites united 109 Intelsat member nations in a communication brotherhood that set an example of international cooperation. The Intelsat has reduced the cost of worldwide telecommunication – to 1/18^th of what it was in 1965.

Intelsat v is the fifth generation after the early bird. Instead of 240 voice circuits, it has 120, 00, plus two colour TV channels. Being made of titanium they are very expensive.

Almost every month another communication satellite parks in the geostationary belt. Recently Indonesia united its thousand inhabited islands with satellites, and teleconference is another booming field. Today a growing number of professionals are abandoning costly travels to a common meeting place, and instead meeting “face-to-face” through IV via satellite.

A series of U.S satellites, called Landsat was launched in 1972 to examine the earth’s surface for geological and agricultural investigations. Racing around Earth 14 times a day, the Landsat I examined Earth from 915 km above.