Today in Technology History
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July 26
We depend on satellites to relay or transmit much of the information we use every day, including TV and phone signals, weather information, military intelligence, and more. Many of the most useful satellites above our planet are those in geosynchronous orbit -- and today is the anniversary of the launch of the first geosynchronous satellite.
Let's start with some background. The U.S. launched the first communications satellite, the primitive, passive Echo I in 1960. This was followed by the active Telstar I communications satellite in 1962. Since these satellites orbited the Earth at a relatively low altitude, they wandered across the sky like vagrants -- making them less than ideal for communication.
Arthur C. Clarke, the science and science fiction writer who first suggested the idea of satellite communications, had envisioned satellites in much higher orbit. Clarke had described satellites so far above the Earth's surface that they took about 24 hours to orbit the planet once -- the same amount of time it takes the planet to rotate once. (Hence the term "geosynchronous orbit," also called a "Clarke orbit.") From a terrestrial point of view, the satellites would seem to wander much less, making them more useful.
The first geosynchronous satellite was supposed to be Syncom 1, but that satellite was lost soon after its launch on Valentine's Day in 1963. A few months later -- on July 26, 1963 -- NASA launched Syncom 2, which reached a geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface. Syncom 2 was used for telephone, teletype and TV signals.
Even though Syncom 2 was a geosynchronous satellite, it wasn't quite a true "geostationary" satellite which would seem to hover above a single spot on the Earth's surface. That advance would come later.
Related links:
Click here to read more about Syncom 2.
Click here and here to read about the entire Syncom project.
Use these links to learn more about geosynchronous orbits and satellites.
Click here to read a letter from Arthur C. Clarke wishing Syncom 2 a happy birthday, back in 1998.
This page explains in a little more detail the vision Arthur C. Clarke originally promoted for communications satellites.
Click here to read a firsthand account from someone who worked on the Syncom project.
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