Page 28 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

 The Echo series,
the forerunner in communications technology from space.
By now it was standard to have solar cells recharging internal batteries so that satellites could function for years. Satellites also had data-storing facilities to keep data on tape and then transmit it when their orbit took them to within range of a ground station.
Telstar
Another important development was the launching of communications satellites.
It began with the Echo series of satellites launched in 1960. They were balloonlike, made of plastic with an aluminum coating. The balloon was inflated in space by using a substance called acetamide that turned from a solid to a gas (it sublimed). This balloon was 30 m across and could be seen clearly from
the Earth’s surface, looking like a slowly moving planet or star. Signals were bounced from it.
The first, and possibly the most famous satellite other than Sputnik, was Telstar. Inside Telstar was a very powerful amplifier so that it could pick up signals and magnify and retransmit them, rather than just bounce signals like the Echo satellites. Telstar was so revolutionary that it even had a hit pop song written for it. It was launched in 1962. The purpose of the satellite was to receive and store messages and retransmit them on demand.
The dramatic innovation that Telstar brought was the transmission of the first live pictures across the Atlantic. Using Telstar, a transmitter in the UK was able to beam the first live television pictures to America. On July 12, 16 European stations exchanged television programs with the United States.
Telstar led the way in the development of the global orbiting geostationary satellites, which we all now use for our international (and some of our national) communications.
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