The Worlds First Television Satellites

Shortly after Sputnik I was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, Explorer I was Americas answer in 1958. This marked the beginning of the space race between the US and Soviet Russia. Never before had man-made satellites been successfully put into orbit, and these first satellites showed that humanity was ready for "The Final Frontier."

On August 12, 1960, a delta rocket was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, carrying America's pride, ECHO-1A satellite. This satellite was to be America's way of getting one step up on the Soviets in communication. Echo-1 was a giant, 100ft, air filled balloon, which was made of 0.0127mm thick Mylar polyester film with a thin coating of aluminum inside. Its main purpose was to passively reflect radio waves like an echo. Before Echo-1A, the Navy used the moon as a similar type of passive reflector. NASA hoped their satellite would improve the quality of these transmissions and "broaden the horizon" on which types of radio transmissions could be sent.

Echo-1A reflected 960 MHz and 2390 MHz radio signals, which included intercontinental telephone, radio, and television signals. The Navy was satisfied with the "good quality" transmissions from Hawaii to Washington DC that Echo-1 produced. On April 24, 1962, a transmission was received in Massachusetts, with a power of 20 kilowatts, from the NASA station in Goldstone, California. The transmission was an image of a poster reading "MIT," successfully transmitted, and then reflected, some 4300km (around 2700 miles) across the United States. There were also reports of a few radio transmissions being picked up by radios in England, further revealing the success of the Echo-1.