The Worlds First Television Satellites

Shortly after Sputnik I was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, Explorer I was Americas answer in 1958. This marked the beginning of the space race between the US and Soviet Russia. Never before had man-made satellites been successfully put into orbit, and these first satellites showed that humanity was ready for "The Final Frontier."

On August 12, 1960, a delta rocket was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, carrying America's pride, ECHO-1A satellite. This satellite was to be America's way of getting one step up on the Soviets in communication. Echo-1 was a giant, 100ft, air filled balloon, which was made of 0.0127mm thick Mylar polyester film with a thin coating of aluminum inside. Its main purpose was to passively reflect radio waves like an echo. Before Echo-1A, the Navy used the moon as a similar type of passive reflector. NASA hoped their satellite would improve the quality of these transmissions and "broaden the horizon" on which types of radio transmissions could be sent.

Echo-1A reflected 960 MHz and 2390 MHz radio signals, which included intercontinental telephone, radio, and television signals. The Navy was satisfied with the "good quality" transmissions from Hawaii to Washington DC that Echo-1 produced. On April 24, 1962, a transmission was received in Massachusetts, with a power of 20 kilowatts, from the NASA station in Goldstone, California. The transmission was an image of a poster reading "MIT," successfully transmitted, and then reflected, some 4300km (around 2700 miles) across the United States. There were also reports of a few radio transmissions being picked up by radios in England, further revealing the success of the Echo-1.

In addition to reflecting radio transmissions, at a 1052ft orbiting height, Echo-1A gathered information about air density, air density changes while orbiting, and radiation pressure from the sun. These tasks were second to spreading radio waves, but gave NASA a good look at Earth's atmosphere for future launches. One of these launches, on January 24, 1964, was the Echo-2, an improvement of its predecessor, though only by a small fraction. It was the first space project in which the US and Soviet Union both played a vital role in the creation. Echo-2, which was 35ft larger than Echo-1, carried more instruments and was easier to track from Earth. It would revolve around the Earth once every 2 hours at an altitude of about 1000 miles (1600 kilometers).

Echo-1 continued to reflect radio transmissions for 8 years after its initial launch and Echo-2 for 5 years. When the satellites returned to Earth, NASA started to explore the option of using active satellites, or satellites that would receive a transmission, and re-transmit where it was needed. Though the Echo series of communication satellites is now viewed as being primitive, in the early 1960's, they paved the way for the vast communications industry seen in every Americans home today.