Satellite Communications

Satellite Communications. Satellite communication was the only truly commercial space technology to be developed in the first forty years or so after the beginning of the space age in 1957. Perhaps the first person to evaluate the technical and financial aspects of satellite communications was John R. Pierce of AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories, who in the mid‐1950s outlined the utility of a communications “mirror” in space, estimating that such a satellite would be worth a billion dollars. Under Pierce's leadership, AT&T in 1960 petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to launch an experimental communications satellite with a view toward implementing an operational system. Caught off guard, the government scrambled to develop a policy to regulate this new medium of communication. The John F. Kennedy administration opposed allowing AT&T a monopoly of satellite communications, as it already enjoyed one on Earth. Accordingly, in 1961, to offset AT&T's lead in technological development, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration awarded contracts to RCA and Hughes Aircraft to build communication satellites, Relay and Syncom. By 1964, two AT&T Telstars, two Relays, and two Syncoms had been successfully launched, and technological know‐how had been transferred to companies other than AT&T. Live television broadcasts from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics provided a glimpse of the dawning age of instantaneous global communications.

The Kennedy administration also sponsored legislation in 1962 that created the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSTAT), with ownership divided evenly between the public and telecommunications corporations such as AT&T, ITT, RCA, and Western Union, to lead the U.S. effort in global satellite communications. Later, COMSTAT became the American component of an emerging global system known as the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT), formed in August 1964. On 6 April 1965, COMSTAT's first satellite, Early Bird, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Global satellite communications had begun.

Although COMSTAT and the initial launch vehicles and satellites were American, other countries had been involved from the beginning. By the time Early Bird was launched, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Japan had established communications ground stations. From a few hundred telephone circuits and a handful of members in 1965, the INTELSAT system grew to embrace more members than the United Nations and to possess the technical capability to provide millions of telephone circuits. Cost to carriers per circuit, and to individual customers, declined dramatically as the system matured. By the end of the century, orbiting satellites were generating billions of dollars annually in sales of products and services and had transformed global communication by facilitating commercial broadcasting, business and scientific exchanges, and telephone and Internet communication among individuals worldwide.
See also Space Program.

Bibliography

Heather E. Hudson , Communications Satellites: Their Development and Impact, 1990.
Donald H. Martin , Communication Satellites, 1958–1992, 1991.
Andrew J. Butrica, ed., Beyond the Ionosphere: Fifty Years of Satellite Communication, 1997.

Roger D. Launius