The Importance Of Communication Satellites

Register to read the introduction… With the launch of Sputnik 1, and other satellites, the Soviet Union recognized the benefits of a global communications network, although it did not use a geosynchronous orbit because of the country’s northern location (“Communications Satellite Industry”). To solve this problem the Soviet Union launched satellites into a low altitude elliptical orbit, which would cover a much higher percentage of the Soviet Union’s territory; “The orbit consisted of a very close and fast approach over the Southern Hemisphere while tracing a slow and lengthy arc over the Soviet mainland” (“Communications Satellite Industry”). While the Soviet Union was rushing to develop its space technology, so was America; “Shortly after World War II, the United States acquired the expertise of German rocket engineers. The German rocket program, which produced the world's first true rocket, the V-2, was highly valuable to the United States” (“Communications Satellite Industry”). The United States, realizing they had no agency to handle space missions, formed an agency called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, to handle the development of space. In 1960 NASA awarded competitive contracts to various companies in order to promote the development of satellite communications networks (Marsden 515).
“In July 1962, NASA launched the world's first private sector communications satellite, AT&T's Telstar, which transmitted the first live transatlantic telecast on July 10th. Telstar opened space to commercial users, sparking a communications revolution. Telstar was the first satellite to demonstrate the true possibilities of global communications through satellites” (Marsden