Communications Satellites.docVIP

Communications Satellites In a world that is becoming more and more interdependent , there is an ever-increasing need to link communications systems on various continents and to enlarge live international televition coverage .This need is now being met by the communications satellites Communications satellites make use of technology that has been available for some time: the microwave radio relay. Microwaves, which have a higher frequency than ordinary radio waves,are used routinely in sending thousands of telephone calls and television programs across long distances. They gives high-quality performance, and they can carry many messages at the same time. But there has always been one problem in using radio relay in overseas communications. Although high-frequency waves can travel almost unlimited distances, they travel only in straight lines. Since the curvature of the earth limited a microwave’s line-of-sight path to about 30 miles, good reception requires a series of relay towers spaced every 30 miles or so. Obviously, it isn’t possible to build these towers across the ocean. But by sending signals high up into the sky and then bouncing them back again to a far-off spot, we can send microwave messages long distances. As long ago as 1945, Arthur C. Clarke, an English science-fiction writer, proposed that manned “stationary” satellites be used to relay and broadcast electromagnetic communication signals. In 1945, of course, the idea of getting a satellites out into space seemed fantastic. But within ten years, satellites were close to reality. With first launching of a satellite into orbit by the Soviet Union (Sputnik I) in 1957, the real development work on satellite communcations began. Shortly thereafter, two successful satellites were launched in the United States, Echo I and Telstar I. The launching of the Telstar I satellite in 1962 marked a major step toward opening the era of commercial satellite communications. Echo I, a ten-story aluminum-coat