by Mark Ollig
It was April 6, 1965, and Minnesota’s Hubert H.
Humphrey was vice president of the United States, and chairman of the National
Aeronautics and Space Council.
On this date, he witnessed (via close circuit TV)
NASA’s rocket launch of the first ITSO (International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization) satellite called: IntelSat 1 F-1, and nicknamed “Early
Bird.”
The satellite was dubbed Early Bird in reference to the
old adage: “The early bird catches the worm.”
Early Bird was the world’s first commercially used
communications satellite.
The Space and Communications Group of the Hughes
Aircraft Company constructed its cylindrical shape for the Communications
Satellite Corporation (COMSAT).
Electronics contained inside the 85-pound satellite
performed the switching magic for 240 simultaneous telephone calls.
There was also one channel used for broadcasting live
television programs between North America and Europe.
Additionally, Early Bird could relay telegraph signals,
and facsimile (fax) transmissions.
It could not perform all of these functions
simultaneously, so commercial companies vied for obtaining time to use specific
satellite services.
Early Bird’s payload included two 6-watt transponders,
and operated on an allocated frequency bandwidth of 50 MHz (megahertz).
NASA used a Thrust Augmented Delta D rocket to place
the Early Bird into a geosynchronous orbit above the Atlantic Ocean, along the
Earth’s equator, at a distance of some 22,300 miles.
From what I understand, a “geosynchronous orbit” is
when a satellite’s orbital speed matches the speed in which the planet is
turning. The high earth-orbit allows the satellite to position itself in the
same location above the Earth’s surface as it travels the planet in a circular
orbit.
Ground satellite stations can then focus their antenna
towards a fixed location in the sky, ensuring a direct-line-of-sight to the
satellite; thus allowing the uninterrupted sending and receiving of signaling
data.
The Early Bird would orbit over the same location
between North America and Europe.
In October 1945, famous science fiction writer Arthur
C. Clarke,correctly predicted the use of orbital satellites while writing a
paper titled: “Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide
Radio Coverage?”
“The development of rockets sufficiently powerful to
reach “orbital” and even “escape” velocity is now only a matter of years,”
Clarke wrote in his paper printed in the technical magazine, Wireless World.
Clarke may have been thinking of the powerful V-2
rockets developed by Wernher von Braun, who also developed the Saturn V rocket
used by NASA to reach the moon.
I first became curious about the Early Bird satellite,
strangely enough, while watching a YouTube video of heavyweight boxing champion
Muhammad Ali fighting Cleveland Williams.
This boxing match took place Nov. 14, 1966, inside the
Astrodome in Houston.
“I’d like at this time to compliment the thousands of
people in the United Kingdom, who, where it is nearly four-o’clock, are jamming
the theaters over there, to see our telecast via the Early Bird satellite,”
announced Don Dunphy, who was calling the fight from ringside.
Not only did the Early Bird satellite transmit live
television broadcasts between North America and Europe, it also completed the
switching for transatlantic telephone calls.
I located a May 7, 1965, LIFE magazine, and read an
article about the satellite, cleverly titled: “The Early Bird Gets the Word.”
Yes indeed, folks, what a wonderful play on words those
writers came up with back in 1965.
The Early Bird satellite’s outer surface was encased in
some 6,000 silicon-coated solar cells it used for power.
These solar cells converted the sun’s energy into
electricity to power the internal electronic components, as the satellite
itself did not contain any batteries.
The satellite is noted for providing television
splashdown coverage in December 1965, of the Gemini 6 spacecraft.
Early Bird was removed from operation in January 1969;
however, it was reactivated in July, when the communications satellite to be
used during the Apollo 11 moon mission failed.
It was then deactivated in August 1969.
In 1990, Early Bird was revived for a brief period in
celebration of its 25th anniversary.
Intelsat (established in 1964 as the first commercial
satellite services provider) uploaded a video of Early Bird’s April 6, 1965,
launch from Cape Canaveral, FL, to its YouTube channel viewable here:
http://tinyurl.com/Intelsat1L.
Real-time satellite tracking website: http://N2YO.com,
monitors approximately 17,200 objects in the sky.
You can search where the IntelSat 1 F-1 Early Bird
satellite is presently located, via its International Designator Code:
1965-028A.
Check out this link to see Early Bird’s current
location: http://tinyurl.com/EarlyBirdL.
The 50-year-old Early Bird satellite still soars high
above the Earth.
