Telstar

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Telstar, the first civil communications satellite
Launch of Telstar 1 on 10 July 1962, a Thor - Delta - launcher
Telstar solar module, 1980s. Science Museum London .
Model of the Telstar 2 satellite
Discontinuation of Telstar-3-D at STS-51-G

Telstar is the name of the first civil communications satellite . The Telstar satellite series was a joint project between NASA and the US telecommunications company AT&T .

Telstar 1

On July 10, 1962, the Telstar 1 satellite was launched into space from Cape Canaveral with a Delta DM-19 rocket . In the same month, the first live television broadcast between the USA and Europe was broadcast with a speech by the American President John F. Kennedy . Since Telstar 1 did not have a geostationary orbit , but rather circled on a highly elliptical orbit 957 × 5600 kilometers in height, the connection could not be maintained for more than 20 minutes. A broadcast was only possible again after a two-and-a-half hour circumnavigation of the earth. To ensure continuous transmission, a constellation of numerous Telstar satellites was planned. This plan was not carried out because geostationary communications satellites were considered more advantageous.

The $ 60 million Telstar 1 weighed 77.2 kilograms and was 88 centimeters in diameter. It drew its energy from 3,600 small, externally mounted solar modules. A two-row arrangement of antenna elements was attached to its equator, and another ring-shaped antenna was attached to one of the poles. This allowed 600 one-way or 60 two-way telephone connections in addition to television broadcasts.

Since the satellite had been damaged the day before by the particle cloud of the extra-atmospheric atomic bomb test, code-named Starfish Prime , it failed prematurely after four months. At the beginning of January 1963 it was possible to put it back into operation until it finally failed on February 21, 1963. As a completely inoperative object, it is still in orbit as so-called space debris.

Telstar 2

The successor Telstar 2 , which is slightly heavier with a mass of 79.5 kg , was launched on May 7, 1963, after the original launch date had been postponed in October 1962 in order to add the installation necessary to reach a higher orbit (973 × 10,800 km) Booster to be seen in the launcher. This enabled transmission times of up to 20 minutes. Telstar 2 was used for two years.

The European receiving station for Telstar was built in the French Brittany near the place Pleumeur-Bodou (coordinates 48 ° 47 ′ 11 ″  N , 3 ° 31 ′ 27 ″  W ). The pivoting, horn-like antenna weighing 340 tons is located under a radome with a diameter of 50 meters. The buildings can now be viewed as a communication museum.

Later Telstar satellites

In the 1980s, the Telstar name was revived by AT&T for geostationary communications satellites, but these are not direct successors to the original Telstar satellites in terms of their development. The name was also retained by Telesat Canada after the company acquired the satellite division of AT&T in 2007 with Loral Skynet .

Start list

Surname Start date Launcher Starting place orbit Satellite bus Dimensions
Telstar 1 July 10, 1962 Delta DM19 Cape Canaveral 945 × 5643 km
× 45 °		 77 kg
Telstar 2 May 7, 1963 Delta-B Cape Canaveral 972 × 10,802 km
× 43 °		 79 kg
Telstar 3 A (301) July 28, 1983 Delta-3920 PAM-D Cape Canaveral 76 ° W HS-376 625 kg
Telstar 3 C (302) August 30, 1984 Space Shuttle PAM-D Cape Canaveral 125 ° W HS-376 625 kg
Telstar 3 D (303) June 17, 1985 Space Shuttle PAM-D Cape Canaveral 76 ° W HS-376 630 kg
Telstar 4 01 December 16, 1993 Atlas-2AS Cape Canaveral 97 ° W AS-7000 3375 kg
Telstar 4 02 September 9, 1994 Ariane-42L Kourou AS-7000 3485 kg
Telstar 4 02R
(Telstar 4, Telstar 403)		 September 24, 1995 Ariane-42L Kourou 89 ° W AS-7000 3410 kg
Telstar 5
(Intelsat Americas 5, IA 5)		 May 24, 1997 Proton-K Block-DM4 Baikonur 97 ° W SSL-1300 3600 kg
Telstar 6
(Intelsat Americas 6, IA 6)		 February 15, 1999 Proton-K Block DM3 Baikonur 93 ° W SSL-1300 3763 kg
Telstar 7
(Intelsat Americas 7, IA 7)		 September 25, 1999 Ariane-44LP Kourou 127 ° W SSL-1300 3790 kg
Telstar 8
(Intelsat Americas 8, IA 8)
Galaxy 28		 June 23, 2005 Zenit-3SL Sea Launch Platform 89 ° W SSL-1300S 5493 kg
Telstar 9 (never started) SSL-1300S 5493 kg
Telstar 10 (APStar 2R) 17th October 1997 CZ-3B Xi Chang 76.5 ° E SSL-1300 3700 kg
Telstar 11 (Orion 1) November 29, 1994 Atlas-2A Cape Canaveral 37.5 ° W Eurostar-2000 2361 kg
Telstar 11N February 26, 2009 Zenit-3SLB Baikonur 37.5 ° W SSL-1300 4012 kg
Telstar 12 (Orion 2) October 19, 1999 Ariane-44LP Kourou 15 ° W SSL-1300 3814 kg
Telstar 13 (Echostar 9,
Intelsat Americas 13, IA 13
Galaxy 23) 		August 8, 2003 Zenit-3SL Sea Launch Platform 121 ° W SSL-1300 4737 kg
Telstar 14 (Estrela do Sul 1) January 11, 2004 Zenit-3SL Sea Launch Platform 63 ° W SSL-1300 4694 kg
Telstar 18 (APStar 5) June 29, 2004 Zenit-3SL Sea Launch Platform 138 ° E SSL-1300 4640 kg

Reception in the youth culture of the 1960s

The enthusiasm for the first Telstar satellite was so great that Joe Meek composed an instrumental piece of the same name , which the band The Tornados recorded. The success of this piece was so resounding that the Tornados became the first British band to land a number one hit in the United States.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b How the real-time world came about. In: sueddeutsche.de. July 9, 2012, accessed May 14, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Atomic bombs in space
  3. ↑ Ralph D. Lorenz, David Michael Harland: Space Systems Failures: Disasters and Rescues of Satellites, Rocket and Space Probes . Springer, New York 2005, ISBN 0-387-21519-0 , pp. 388 (English, books.google.com ).
  4. ↑ Telstar II goes back upon the Shelf , in Electronics, October 5, 1962, p. 7
  5. ↑ Telstar
  6. ↑ Gunter's Space Page - Telstar 1 and 2
  7. ↑ Gunter's Space Page - Telstar 3-18