The First Geostationary Communications Satellites - The Olympics, The Beatles and Moon Landings

Part 3 in my series on communications satellites - The first communications satellites could only maintain connections for a short time before their orbits took them below the horizon, to make a stable connection needed a satellite that orbited with the earth - a geosynchronous satellite. And that's what Syncom was - they used bigger boosters and smarter navigation to get the spacecraft into higher orbits to create the first stable satellite connections.
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[@tortysoft]

I watched 'Our World' - utter magic. I remember seeing a bright reflection from an African drummer's drum and realised I was being dazzled by the sun on the other side of the world at night. That magic was added to by the 'All you need is Love' Beatles performance. My father worked in TV so it was even more special for me.

[@MichaelSteeves]

I lived in Kenya from the late '60s. It was an incredible thing see a satellite earth station being built in the Rift Valley, visible from our house. A few years later they added a second dish for a satellite over the Indian Ocean. Basically all international communication went through that station until they were finally able to connect to an undersea fiber cable a decade or so ago.

[@TexasJim1956]

I remember watching the Olympics as a teenager. ABC touted the use of SATCOM during their broadcast. As an adult I work as a SATCOM engineer supporting the Department of Defense. In my 40 plus years in the industry I've seen so much growth and change in capabilities. Thank you Scott for a most interesting series on SATCOM.

[@josephstevens9888]

I bet you have seen things change in your field!

[@oberonpanopticon]

@@josephstevens9888I also suspect that, based on the fact that they said so in their comment

[@Ireallymissmymind]

I remember watching 'Our World' live as a 16 year old, just having finished my O-level exams, full of hope and looking forward to the future. Two years later, I finished my A-levels a couple of days before I watched the Moon landing live and started looking forward to the future even more. I've been in that future for some time now and to be honest, - it's a bit of a let down in a lot of areas.

[@squabbbb]

Was it not your world to make better? Space was yours to grab, and no one did. This world is not a let-down. It was always the expected outcome from the path you all took.

[@ChemEDan]

@@squabbbb Chill bro, unless you think you're personally responsible for covid, the current wars in Europe, and whatever shows up next on the news.

[@NeonVisual]

OK Boomer, go look at the spaceX vacancies.

[@ACME_Kinetics]

Half of the world then was the USSR or heavily influenced, the other half was USA or influenced. Those of us alive today should have a degree of thankfulness that space has - to this day - not been weaponized to any real extent. So considering the duopoly of ideals at hand, you should give that generation a little more credit. @@squabbbb

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

Some 50 years after Apollo 11, we,ve recently only done a few Surveyor type landings (India 'hopped') and a couple rovers on the Moon (with some failures, Israel & Russia. Japan's en route) and China doing an Apollo style (orbiter, lander, ascent, rendez-vous & return) rehearsal with their sample return mission as well as landing a rover on the far side.

[@Peter-pb8jg]

Beatles and satellites all in one video. Doesn't get better than that!

[@LarryB-inFL]

Knowing what electronics looked like in the early 60's, it is amazing to me that they could build this first one into a 39Kg package!

[@climatechat]

I had the honor of working with Harold Rosen (the creator of Syncom and Early Bird) when I worked on communications satellites at Hughes Aircraft Company (not Hughes Aerospace) over 40 years ago. I also had the honor of being friends with him until he died in 2017. He was one of the smartest people I ever met.

[@davidb6576]

It is a great privilege to know and work with the truly brilliant. I've known a few and have been grateful for the small bits I was able to take in for myself.

[@brassboy77]

Nice video. I spent 25 years in the industry. Hughes Aircraft Company Space and Comm, Hughes Communications, Panamsat, Intelsat. Retired in 2014. A great ride.

[@Trex531]

Oh yeah!, I certainly remember "Our World" broadcast through Early Bird satellite and others in 1967. Everybody was talking about the marvels in space which enabled live broadcasts around the world. I was 14 years old then and really enjoyed it, specially of course, The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" live! Great series Scott!

[@cdstoc]

His mention of Syncomm going to the military reminded of a field trip that I took in the fourth grade in 1968. My dad was stationed at Clark AFB in the Philippines and my class went to the SATCOM station on base. They let us speak on a telephone handset and a second or so later we heard our voice come back. It was sent from the Philippines to a satellite to Japan and back again. The very thought of it boggled the mind of 9-year old me.

[@bladewiper]

I love these history sessions.

[@jeromethiel4323]

Agreed. It not only informs, it shows us how we got where we are today. I know a lot of people that think NASA spending should be spent on other things. Not realizing that the world we have today would not be possible without that spending in the 60's. We're STILL getting return on that investment.

[@oberonpanopticon]

“space travel is a waste of time” goons watching this video: 😮

[@RideGasGas]

Have been working in the satellite communications industry since 1977. Lucky to have been involved in a lot of really interesting programs that were groundbreaking at the time, but which are now commonplace - think WiFi on board aircraft for example. More fun stuff to come :)

[@zanpsimer7685]

When my Father retired from the Air Force in 1970s my family moved to a midsized city with an Air Force base nearby. We would often go to the Base to shop, see movies, hang at the rec center etc. I remember making friends with kids on base. Their homes and the rec center had cable satellite tv which wasn’t available to us townies. Years later I mentioned old shows I’d seen rebroadcast like Jack Benny and I Love Lucy to my townie friends and they had no idea what I was talking about. Your video makes me think about such things.

[@balisongman07]

Loving this series. Was a 25S7D in the military (army satcom). I'll always miss it, the shift difference in the satellite is called the translation frequency.

[@RideGasGas]

26Y back in the day. Worked on an MSC-46 station in Korea from 1978/79 and also worked on the FSC-78/79 terminals at Fort Gordon, and briefly taught the TSC-54 terminal at the signal school there.

[@greententacle7394]

31S 1C here. I worked the 52 terminal at Camp Carroll Korea.

[@douglasstrother6584]

I spent a couple of decades at Hughes/Boeing/L3 Electron Devices Division (samee job, different badge) testing travelling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) used for the downlink. After moving on to a new position, I get to see some of my "kids" at work. Our predecessors were truly ingenious.

[@RossM3838]

When I was in the eighth grade grade I won a big science award for building a 3/4 scale model of the early bird satellite . It was not from a kit but from stuff I found on the floor of my uncle’s commercial work shop. I even got boxes to model the interior electronics Sadly after many moves the model fell apart and is gone

[@andrewemery4272]

Just like the original. Most realistic 👌

[@RossM3838]

@@andrewemery4272 it was fun to make I wrote to the company and got all the dimensions and used a big barrel for the body of the craft. I covered it with a bunch of veneer slabs that were about to be tossed out. They simulated the solar panels. While not a famous as Telstar, which remains the most famous satellite ever, (with Sputnik) early bird was a big deal and that live performance by the Beatles sealed it. Boy I’m getting old.

[@AndrewBlacker-wr2ve]

"satellite." Did you misspell it years ago also? Nowadays, we have access to a dictionary on every device. And, Scott put the word in the title... spelled properly. Choose one: Intelligent Stupid

[@RossM3838]

@@AndrewBlacker-wr2ve spelling and typo corrected. I realize just how painful that was to you and I offer my deepest apologies

[@RCAvhstape]

@@AndrewBlacker-wr2ve Here's a choice for you, choose one: 1. Kind and polite 2. Rude and unpleasant Looks like you already chose 2, never mind.

[@SVanHutten]

For those who like this sort of things, Syncom I is a small character in Alfred Bester´s delightful sci-fi short story titled _Something Up There Likes Me_ (1973). Great video and series, Scott! Now waiting for the Molniyas...

[@frankgulla2335]

Scott, what a great series about satellite communications. I lived through this, but being in K12, most of this "flew" over my head. Thanks for bringing me up to date.

[@semanticboat]

Big tangent but this is the audience for it: I had an older math teacher in highschool with a PhD and a previous career in industry. He was an Indian man and a lot of people didn't like him as his accent could be hard to understand and he was a relatively new/inexperienced teacher. He was tough and would impose difficult rules like no calculators for trig/calc classes. Even though he was pretty no-nonsense and had no room for socializing in his classroom, he was incredibly patient and I could tell he was a really nice guy. I thought he was a fantastic teacher with his heart in the right place as well. I was intrigued by him so when I got an assignment in another class to interview a teacher in school of my choosing, I knew exactly who I wanted to learn more about! Fortunately he agreed to the interview and it's had a lasting impact on me. When he was young, like 12 or something, and still living in India, he described learning about "the first" (I don't know which) telecommunications satellite by Bell Labs as being so inspiring that he knew he needed to go work for Bell Labs. If I remember correctly, he got his PhD in the US and his entire career was spent at Bell Labs and whatever became of Bell Labs. He worked on fiber optics and notably TAT-9. Anyway the part at 6:20 really reminded me of that discussion. So cool to see how inspiring that was to someone.

[@Bora_H]

Great work - Thanks! I live not too far from Andover Maine so my son and I went looking and found the ground station. We had a great time looking around at what's left.

[@aerohk]

Really enjoy this series, thank you! I used to work at Hughes, we have an engineering model of the Syncom on display. Surprisingly small was the first thing that comes into my mind, when modern geo sats are as large as a bus. Syncom is a peace of important space history, that's for sure.

[@SpontaneousIntrospections]

Glad to see you turned on the light! 🙂 Found the video to be most illuminating, as usual, as well!

[@cpt_bill366]

The people saying that sat would never go any higher than the Eiffel Tower remind me of people of a certain age about 20 years ago saying the Internet was just a fad, and that there was no reason to get involved or learn anything about it. It is amazing how short sighted some types can be in the face of obviously life changing, cutting edge tech development.

[@salemengineer2130]

Back in 1963, I did a class report on communications satellites for my 3rd grade class (I was a bit of a nerd even then). I remember contacting three different organizations that were developing comm satellites. All three sent me really cool posters showing artists conceptions of what their satellite would look like in orbit (I am not sure that all were actually in service at that time). The only satellite whose name I remember was Telstar. Needless to say, my class report did not include the level of technical detail that Scott has included in this clip.🙂

[@milolouis]

Just astonishing accuracy, hard to believe that little tank could circularise it's orbit.

[@terrylandess6072]

Born in '58 all these names, words and catch phrases wake sleeping memories. Model makers had plenty of new source material.

[@markholm7050]

You said that Kingsport was a Liberty ship. She was not a Liberty, but a Victory class ship. Victories were somewhat larger than Liberties, faster, with more modern equipment and an improved hull design less prone to fractures in heavy seas. Liberties certainly helped get the job done during WWII, but Victories were more valuable after the war, when quality became more important than sheer quantity.

[@gordonrichardson2972]

Thanks, I figured that Scott misspoke. The ship even has a Wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USNS_Kingsport

[@TheWeakLink101]

Yay! Scott turned on the light this time! Haha great episode Scott!

[@acl8610]

Its amazing how they went from this to the moon landing six years later.

[@williammodlin2621]

Glad to see that you remembered to turn on the lights for this video. Great content and entertainment as always.

[@djstraylight]

Great series on early satellites! And he remembered to turn on his camera lights.

[@johnopalko5223]

Scott, have you ever looked into the history of amateur communications satellites? Most people don't realize that an amateur-built satellite, OSCAR 1, was launched in 1961. It carried no onboard propulsion and its orbit decayed after only 22 days but it was a resounding success and led to many follow-up missions.

[@boredgrass]

This was such a pleasure to watch! Thank you!❤

[@MCsCreations]

Fascinating history! Thanks, Scott! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@azpcox]

Looking forward to Molniya orbit discussion!

[@baomao7243]

I have been fascinated by Molniya orbits since I first learned of them.

[@StYxXx]

Hopefully one day those historically important satellites will be brought back and shown at museums :)

[@lustfulvengance]

Starship can do it along with Hubble!!

[@williamgalbraith3621]

Very interesting and informative series, Scott! Keep up the good work!

[@asphere8]

It's fun that you're doing a series on comms satellites while I'm actively having to deal with the fallout of a failing comms satellite at work! Namely, Telesat's nearly 20-year-old Anik F2

[@anthoneyking6572]

Loving this Series on satellites I was Born in 53 so I remember all this stuff about Telstar ect Thanks Scott

[@mikerichards6065]

Another fantastic deep dive Scott. Looking forward to learning about the origins of Molniya next.

[@YovanNoel]

Did Scott just say the first call was to the Prince of Nigeria?🤣

[@JoseGranny]

And he's been in hiding ever since. All he needs is $100,000 from you to save his life. 😂

[@Sonnell]

He also said that the first victim of this scam was JFK.... uhm...

[@RCAvhstape]

Oh boy, don't let the hoaxers hear this lol

[@sandybarnes887]

😅 Prime Minister 😂

[@bettyswallocks6411]

The Beatles’ broadcast was actually quite a big thing at the time. I was knee-high at the time, but the event was pretty front and centre, as this nipper recalled.

[@AuTo69420]

My brother, thank you for these little "minidocs" that you do.

[@Sebastian16753]

He's not your brother, friend!

[@AuTo69420]

@@Sebastian16753 You're not my friend, buddy!

[@telescoper]

Great episode. I used to work for Hughes Aircraft (not Aerospace, btw) in the 1980s and 1990s. I met Harold Rosen a few times. The Space & Communications Group’s business was almost all geosynchronous communication satellites, descendants of Syncom and Early Bird. I hope you do a few more episodes to get to Orbcomm, Iridium, and of course Starlink.

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

Thank you Scott, i do like it when you do space tech and other tech series

[@ericfielding2540]

My parents only listened to classical music so we didn’t see the Beatles on TV. Great video about the satellites.

[@willn851]

Best channel around

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Another great video, Scott.

[@greaseman01]

nice segway at the end looking forward to the next!

[@Kurruk007]

Such a tease towards the end ... can't wait for more 😁

[@dougcastleman9518]

My late brother in law was Harold Rosen…a great guy and someone I got to know very well, and miss. Genius but never acted superior to anyone, but he was always the smartest guy in the room.

[@CraigGood]

Being a kid during this era is why my brain had the idea that satellites were all about big enough to sit on a kitchen table. A year or so ago a friend walked me through Maxar, and I was bowled over by all the satellites that were the size of school busses.

[@dustdevilz4771]

My parents had a small company in Sacramento in the early sixties manufacturing thermocouples for Aerojet General. I believe that Aerojet was building the engine for the Atlas booster at the time. I recall my father speaking of those early comm satellites. We closely followed Project Mercury and the original seven Astronauts. I later met Deke Slayton and actually competed against him flying my Formula 1 air racer at Reno NV in 1983.

[@-jeff-]

How well I remember the hoopla about Telstar. Arthur C. Clark on every talk show.

[@texasyojimbo]

There's a nice scale model of the USS Kingsport in the Kingsport Public Library in Kingsport, Tennessee (the city that gave its name to the ship).

[@discordantmelody9316]

This is a great background series. I work in the satellite business and it provides a good reminder of the problems that have been solved over the decades that mean I stand on the shoulders of giants. There's the rockets to get up there, the complexities of getting in orbit and staying on station and some of my own field regarding the communications payload. It's easy to think these are all solved problems and that these days it all 'just works'. We get periodic timely reminders that even with today's technology and expertise it can still all go expensively wrong. I've worked in various tech fields over my career and always love the history of each field because it's an opportunity to understand it from first principles.

[@antoineroquentin2297]

Love this series!

[@tsmhd1]

I LOVE THIS SERIESSSSS

[@PanzerschrekCN]

Great! Waiting for next episode.

[@geoffwade8144]

Nice teaser for the next one!

[@davel202]

I enjoyed this satellite series.

[@General12th]

Hi Scott! Fly safe!

[@surferdude4487]

I like hearing all about satilites, but the entire subject is way over my head. :D

[@Astronetics]

Catching a Scott video sub 30 minutes after posting. Let's gooooooo!

[@snubbedpeer]

Very interesting! I would love to see an episode about the satellites that followed, when they stopped spinning and got more equipment on board.

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

Our world: I was 17 but I remember it all the more that the same week (June 25th 1967) I had my French baccalauréat (and 4 weeks before, I had bought my mono LP of Sgt Pepper (still have it...), the very day of its release. On a pedantic mode, this first ever world programme (called "mondovision" in French) was not a BBC initiative but technically and legally a European one coordinated by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), also better known under the Eurovision moniker.

[@FandersonUfo]

I remember making trans-Atlantic calls in the 1980s and the time lag was a little under 1.5 seconds I think

[@brentboswell1294]

You had to be somewhat unlucky to get a satellite link instead of a trans-Atlantic cable, at least when calling the UK...

[@FandersonUfo]

@@brentboswell1294 - Italy to Canada calls were always routed up for me on maybe 6 or 7 occasions - always the same delay I'm pretty sure

[@paulsengupta971]

@@brentboswell1294There was a time when most transatlantic telephone traffic went by satellite. The delay was always there!

[@KOZMOuvBORG]

Great series, be good for historical science in schools.

[@lindsayparker2965]

Very much looking forwards to seeing the Soviet video!

[@darthmemeious9526]

I just started reading the 2001 space odyssey. And in the prologue. There was a mention of just how many things arthur c clarke got right and i was kind of shook

[@spacexrocks1041]

This series is awesome. I remember the book "How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village" by Arthur C. Clarke from the early 90s. Great title, if you like puns.

[@ivolol]

A video topic on early in-space attitude / position / manoeuvre control for burns and station keeping from beginnings to maturity would be very cool

[@andrewreynolds9371]

Moliniya is what the USSR was doing. An interesting orbit for a country with a large population in high latitudes.

[@LuisRamirez47]

thanks, very interesting content

[@guyjordan8201]

Nice! Oooo, a proper cliffhanger 😉

[@thanksfernuthin]

HAAA!!! Those damned Liberty Ships. They sure earned their place in maritime history!

[@markholm7050]

Kingsport was a Victory ship, not a Liberty ship. Victories were enlarged, improved ships based on the idea of a mass produced, uniform design freighter that was pioneered by the Liberties.

[@thanksfernuthin]

@@markholm7050 Still made by that same guy?

[@markholm7050]

@@thanksfernuthin The story of the Liberty and Victory ships is complex enough that I can’t give a meaningful response in a comment. I suggest starting with the Wikipedia articles on both.

[@corrylboyd2203]

The excitement behind "Even Africa"

[@odysseusrex5908]

The Eastern Bloc countries withdrew because America's ever increasing satellite communications network only served to demonstrate how far behind they had fallen technologically, and especially in space where, just a few years before, they had seemed to have an insurmountable lead. Their lead had never been as great as it seemed, if it had existed at all, and by the time of the Our World broadcast in 1967 we were leaving them in the dust.

[@jjchouinard2327]

Love all the extra details you can mine from this era! Is there anything you can tell us about the Alouette satelites?

[@filanfyretracker]

Comsat has a ground station nearish to my home town and its right by a hydro electric station, And on a tour of the hydro station the guy said during certain time periods of the first gulf war the government asked them to not shut down the power plant. its a small hydro so normally only spins up for higher load periods but unless the power company guy was leg pulling I suspect the government did not want to risk the ground station losing power so they just keep the power plant that is right up the road running.

[@dirtypure2023]

Interesting

[@jacksonfrench4767]

You remembered the light :D

[@joehopfield]

That Our World event sounds incredible - is there a documentary about it somewhere?

[@marcusdamberger]

It's posted on KZbin, however the quality is odd because the person either was trying to avoid copyright claims by using the video stabilization option KZbin had at the time; that makes everything look like a drunk person shot it through a prism. It's rather distracting, I think KZbin no longer has the video stabilization option, or it no longer turns up to 11 like in that video.. I mean, there was no need for video stabilization, all the clips in the broadcast was shot on tripods, not some shaky cell phone.

[@Ralph64]

The lights are on!!

[@Ava31415]

Excellent, but god it makes me feel old....

[@Gord1812]

Hey Scott. I love your videos. One question mot space related. Who is the pencil drawing behind you? It looks familiar.

[@mikeissweet]

I wish this and the nuclear series would go forever

[@petecomps7260]

I assume those early geosynchronous satellites were not equipped to conduct a controlled deorbit (or go to a higher "parking orbit") at end of life. What is their current status? Are they still in orbit? If so, how much have their orbits decayed?

[@ReginatorNet]

It's cool to see the difference in clean-room operations from different eras. Back then it looks like they were only using white gloves and a hair bonnets, whereas today they're fully suited in ESD gear and sterilized.

[@dirtdart81]

Probably less effort for the missions not going to another planet, at least not the sterile part

[@kbsuess]

Nice video Scott, but where can I get one of those T-shirts!!!

[@Hotcubcar]

lookup IntoTheAM, additionally that shirt glows in the dark.

[@paulbugnacki7107]

Fascinating. Great recap. Now I want to see a recording of that Beatles performance. Looking forward to hear about what the Russians were up to during this time.

[@bbbenj]

A bit of history 😊

[@panda4247]

JFK: "...what can be done with the peaceful use of space" "Yeees, the endless possibilities. You know, mister president, I am a Nigerian prince and I have an opportunity for you..."

[@reggiep75]

I miss getting emails from the Nigerian Prince. I wonder if he passed away.

[@johnladuke6475]

@@reggiep75 Someone finally helped him get his money, he rewarded them with vast sums. Could have been you.

[@maequackers5397]

Spooky ending!

[@alexanderreichard9594]

Iirc, the recording of the live broadcast is mostly what you hear on the actual final track of All You Need Is Love!

[@declan9876]

nice

[@PoliticalCineaste]

_Our World_ and you didn't mention Canada's CBC-TV? They had three spots, including an interview with Marshall McCluhan at the CBC's Toronto National Control Centre in Toronto.

[@johnladuke6475]

He also sounded surprised at the idea of a corporation owned by the government, it's like we're only good for maple syrup and robot space arms.

[@andy.robinson]

And down on the dish on the back of Mr. Big's limo! It's almost too easy...

[@johnladuke6475]

Excellent!

[@codymoe4986]

👍Zang!👍

[@Vamptonius]

I can't listen to that Beatles song because my Mum was supposed to be in that room but at the last minute the journalist she was dating was diverted by his editor to some bloke in a park making an attempt at some inconsequential record.

[@dustinschaub4855]

Scott, as humanity becomes multiplanetary, what challenges might we face trying to overcome the same orbital mechanics problems on other celestial bodies? As an example, with the moons slow rotation and low mass is a geo(or luna)stationary orbit even possible? If it were possible, a lunastationary communication satellite parked on the earth facing side of the moon would make a lot of sense.

[@sirmonkey1985]

not for the moon but other planets it depends on their mass.

[@andygoldensixties4201]

do modern telecom satellites spin like those vintage ones, they are filled with hi-gain directional antennas for receiving elaying the signal on a definite "footprint" of the surface of Earth, how can they if they spin like that?