Editing Communications satellite (section)

=== More firsts and further experiments ===

[[Telstar]] was the first active, direct relay communications commercial satellite and marked the first transatlantic transmission of television signals. Belonging to [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]] as part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, [[Bell Labs|Bell Telephone Laboratories]], NASA, the British [[General Post Office]], and the [[Orange S.A.|French National PTT]] (Post Office) to develop satellite communications, it was launched by NASA from [[Cape Canaveral]] on 10 July 1962, in the first privately sponsored space launch.<ref>{{cite book|title=Communications Satellites: Telstar|url=http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=511938650|publisher=AIAA|edition=5th|date = March 16, 2007|isbn=978-1884989193|last1=Martin|first1=Donald|last2=Anderson|first2=Paul|last3=Bartamian|first3=Lucy}}</ref><ref name=PR1962>{{cite web|url= https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/presrep1962.pdf |title= United States Aeronautics and Space Activities 1962 |date=28 January 1963|publisher=The White House|pages=20, 96|access-date=3 January 2021}}</ref>

Another passive relay experiment primarily intended for military communications purposes was [[Project West Ford]], which was led by [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]'s [[Lincoln Laboratory]].<ref name=BTI-8>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=William W.|last2=Floyd|first2=Franklin W.|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4217/ch8.htm|chapter=Chapter 8: Thirty Years of Space Communications Research and Development at Lincoln Laboratory|title= Beyond The Ionosphere: Fifty Years of Satellite Communication|editor-last=Butrica|editor-first=Andrew J|publisher=NASA History Office|date=1997|bibcode=1997bify.book.....B}}</ref> After an initial failure in 1961, a launch on 9 May 1963 dispersed 350 million copper needle dipoles to create a passive reflecting belt. Even though only about half of the dipoles properly separated from each other,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-014A-01|title=Project West Ford|publisher=NASA|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref> the project was able to successfully experiment and communicate using frequencies in the [[Super high frequency|SHF]] [[X band]] spectrum.<ref name=NASAComp5>{{cite web|url= https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19760014165/downloads/19760014165.pdf |title= NASA Compendium Of Satellite Communications Programs  |date=December 1975|publisher=NASA|pages=5-1 to 5-16|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref>

An immediate antecedent of the geostationary satellites was the [[Hughes Aircraft Company]]'s [[Syncom|Syncom 2]], launched on 26 July 1963. Syncom 2 was the first communications satellite in a [[geosynchronous orbit]]. It revolved around the Earth once per day at constant speed, but because it still had north–south motion, special equipment was needed to track it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-031A|title=Syncom 2|publisher=NASA|access-date=3 January 2021}}</ref> Its successor, [[Syncom|Syncom 3]], launched on 19 July 1964, was the first geostationary communications satellite. Syncom 3 obtained a geosynchronous orbit, without a north–south motion, making it appear from the ground as a stationary object in the sky.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-047A|title=Syncom 3|publisher=NASA|access-date=3 January 2021}}</ref>

A direct extension of the passive experiments of Project West Ford was the [[Lincoln Experimental Satellite]] program, also conducted by the Lincoln Laboratory on behalf of the [[United States Department of Defense]].<ref name=BTI-8/> The [[LES-1]] active communications satellite was launched on 11 February 1965 to explore the feasibility of active solid-state X band long-range military communications. A total of nine satellites were launched between 1965 and 1976 as part of this series.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-008C|title=LES 1|publisher=NASA|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=NASAComp9>{{cite web|url= https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19760014165/downloads/19760014165.pdf |title= NASA Compendium Of Satellite Communications Programs  |date=December 1975|publisher=NASA|pages=9-1 to 9-56|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref>