henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (11/13/88)
In article <3473@vpk4.UUCP> scott@attcan.UUCP (Scott MacQuarrie) writes: >... Who do you think launched the first communication sat? I must regretfully shoot down my compatriot, here. (Regretfully, hell, I enjoy it! ;-)) Canada put up the first non-Soviet domestic comsat. It's somewhat surprising that the US hadn't done one rather earlier, but they hadn't. The *first* domestic comsats were the Molniya series, however. The identity of the first *comsat* depends on exact definitions, but unless I've missed some early Soviet development, it was definitely the US that did it. Take your pick of SCORE, Relay, Telstar, or Syncom II, in -- I think -- that order. SCORE was a comsat only in a fairly loose sense -- it simply broadcast a recorded message -- but it was pretty early. The Relay series was several experimental low-orbit comsats. Telstar was the first commercial comsat, albeit an experimental one, done by AT&T but not followed up on for a long time for legal reasons. Like the Relays, it was in a low orbit that required constant tracking. Syncom II (dunno what happened to Syncom I, launch failure?) was the first more-or-less Clarke-orbit comsat, and quickly demonstrated that that was the wave of the future. Oh yeah, I forgot the Echos, which fit in there somewhere, although that was another dead-end program: metallized balloons as passive radio reflectors. Canada got into the comsat business only after the technology was well settled for international use. What was novel was its use for domestic communication. The Molniyas did pre-date Anik 1, but they "didn't count" either because they were Soviet or because they didn't use Clarke orbit (which did take them somewhat out of the mainstream of comsat development). -- Sendmail is a bug, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology not a feature. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
dsmith@hplabsb.HP.COM (David Smith) (11/15/88)
In article <1988Nov13.062139.1075@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >Syncom II (dunno what happened to Syncom I, launch failure?) was the first >more-or-less Clarke-orbit comsat, Telemetry from Syncom 1 ceased 20 seconds into its apogee burn. It was later optically found in nearly its correct orbit, with a 23h 45min period. So it was the first more-or-less Clarke-orbit satellite, albeit dead. Best guess was that the vibration of the motor killed the power supply. Syncom 2's orbit had an inclination of 30 degrees, with an initial 23:46 period. It maneuvered into position and corrected the orbit to 24 hours. Syncom 3 was the first synchronous, equatorial-plane comsat. -- David Smith HP Labs dsmith@hplabs.hp.com
alastair@geovision.uucp (Alastair Mayer) (11/16/88)
In article <1988Nov13.062139.1075@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <3473@vpk4.UUCP> scott@attcan.UUCP (Scott MacQuarrie) writes: >>... Who do you think launched the first communication sat? > >I must regretfully shoot down my compatriot, here. (Regretfully, hell, >I enjoy it! ;-)) Canada put up the first non-Soviet domestic comsat. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Come on now, Henry. You know as well as I do that Canada hasn't put up *any* satellites, or indeed anything more than a few sounding rockets. It has built satellites, and it has paid the US and Arianespace to launch them (which could, I suppose, be considered putting them up), but Canada can't launch anything even to LEO without somebody else's help. -- "The problem is not that spaceflight is expensive, | Alastair J.W. Mayer therefore only the government can do it, but that | alastair@geovision.UUCP only the government is doing spaceflight, therefore | al@BIX it is expensive." |
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (11/19/88)
In article <446@geovision.UUCP> alastair@geovision.UUCP (Alastair Mayer) writes: >>... Canada put up the first non-Soviet domestic comsat. > Come on now, Henry. You know as well as I do that Canada hasn't put >up *any* satellites, or indeed anything more than a few sounding rockets. >It has built satellites, and it has paid the US and Arianespace to launch >them... One normally speaks of NASA having built the shuttle, even though (unlike for the Saturn V) NASA did no metal-bending at all on the shuttle. NASA and Arianespace were paid subcontractors on the Anik launches, no more. Bristol Aerospace has actually looked at building a Scout-class launcher. Not difficult to do, given that the Scout is basically a stack of big sounding rockets, and Bristol builds good sounding rockets (and sells them to NASA, among others). Either their management is feeling timid, or it hasn't seemed worthwhile. -- Sendmail is a bug, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology not a feature. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu