att telstar press kit

8/8/2019 ATT Telstar Press Kit

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N EWS R ELEASENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

A400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.TELEPHONES: WORTH 2-4155 WORTH 3.6925FOR RELEASE: A.M.'s TUESDAYApril 30, 1963

RELEASE NO: 63-83

NASA TO LAUNCH ANOTHER AT&T TELSTAR

The National Aeronautics and Space Administrationwill attempt to launch, no earlier than May 7, anotherTelstar experimental communications satellite for theAmerican Telephone and Telegraph Company. A Delta rock-et is scheduled to boost the satellite into orbit fromCape Canaveral.

The orbit of Telstar II is designed for an apogeeof 6,559 statute miles and a perigee of 575 statute miles.The spacecraft will be launched into an orbital planehaving an inclination of 43 degrees to the equator.

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The new Telstar will be the fourth experimental ac-tive repeater communications satellite launched to dateby NASA to further research on spacecraft systems andoperating techniques potentially applicable to futureoperational worldwide satellite network.

Two have been low orbit satellites: the first Telstar--593 to 3502 miles above the earth--and Relay--820 to 4600miles. Syncom was the first spacecraft to achieve a near-synchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the earth.

The first Telstar, launched from Cape Canaveral onJuly 10, 1062, captured the world's imagination in the sameway as did Echo, TIROS and the Project Mercury manned spaceflight missions. Telstar I functioned almost perfectly inthe initial weeks of its orbiting the earth. It was exten-sively used for trans-Atlantic television broadcasts, tele-phone calls, radio and facsimile demonstrations.

The Telstar launches are unique in that this is thefirst time that a private company has built a satellite andpaid for cost of launching with its own funds. Telstar Ialso marked the first international attempt to communicateby using an active repeater satellite.

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The Project Telstar cooperative agreement was signedon July 27, 1961 by Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., AssociateAdministrator of NASA, and Frederick R. Kappel, then Presi-dent and now Chairman of the Board of the American Telephoneand Telegraph Company. The agreement provided for:

1. The Bell Telephone Laboratories to design andbuild the Telstar satellites at its own expense, test themaccording to NASA specifications and deliver them Go thelaunch site at Cape Canaveral. Two launchings and two op-tional backup launchings were accounted for in the agreement.

2. AT&T to reimburse NASA for the Delta launch vehicles,launch and tracking services. Cost amounts to approximately$3 million per launch.

3. Bell System engineers and scientists to conduct thecommunications experiments--television, voice and high-speeddata--using the company's ground stations at Andover, Maineand Holmdel, New Jersey. Results to be reported to NASA.

4. NASA to provide Bell Telephone Laboratories with telem-etry and spacecraft acquisition information, including datafrom a radiation experiment aboard the satellite, received byits worldwide Satellite Instrumentation Network. (These sta-tions are located at Blossom Point, Md.; East Grand Forks,

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Minn.; Ft. Myers, Fla.; College, Alaska; Mojave, Calif.;St. Johns, Newfoundla:id; Wooghera, Australia; Winkfield,England; Johannesburg, South Africa; Antofagasta and San-

tiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and quito, Ecuador.)5. Bell Telephone Laboratories to analyze the data and

all results to be made available by NASA to the world scienti-fic community.

Results of the Telstar experiment will be applied to theoverall NASA communication satellite research and developmentprogram, the objective of which is to provide the technologynecessary to permit establishment of an operational system ofcommunication satellites at the earliest possible date.

NASA's responsibilities in the Telstar project are underthe direction of the Office of Applications, NASA Headquarters.Management of these responsibilities is carried out by theGoddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, includingtracking acquired by the tracking network.

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-5-iGROUND STATION FOR TESTING EXPERIMENTALCOTMTNICATION SATELLITES

A cooperative program For testing experimental communi-cation satellites has been undertaken by the National Aero-nautics and Space Administration and communications organiza-tions in the United States, Europe and South America.. andJapan. The American Telephone & Telegraph Co., InternationalTelephone & T4legraph Co., United Kingdom General Post Office,French National Center for Telecommunication Studies, WestGerman Post Office, Brazilian Department of Posts and Tele-graphs, Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications,and Telespazio of Italy are providing ground stations to con-duct communications experiments.

The organizations in England, France, Germany, Brazil,Italy, and Japan are participating on a voluntary basis.Technical agreements were negotiated with NASA and concurredin by the respective governments. No exchange of funds isinvolved. Orbital data necessary for conducting the communica-tions tests are provided to the stations by the NASA GoddardSpace Flight Center's tracking network operations center andthe Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.

The station at Andover, Maine, and those in Englana,France, Germany, and Italy are employed for trans-Atlanticexperiments with AT&TVs Telstar and with Relay, NASA's activerepeater communications satellite.

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The British station, located at Goonhilly Downs inSouthwestern Cornwall, England, is equipped with a steer-able parabolic antenna approximately 85 feet in diameterand a MASER amplifier. The station is also equipped totransmit and receive television and still pictures usingBritish, European, and American line standards as well astelephone and data communications. The site was selectedto obtain a maximum period of mutual visibility to theUnited States via the satellites and because it is re-mote from sources of radio interference.

The French station, located at Pleumeur-Bodou on theBrittany peninsula is almost identical to the AT&T facili-ty at Andover, Maine, and is equipped to conduct television,voice and data experiments.

Telespazio has a large facility at Fucino (about 50miles northeast of Rome). However, the organization willparticipate with an interim station this year by receivingvoice signals from the satellite with a 30-foot parabolicantenna.

The Deutsche Bundespost (Post Office of the FederalRepublic of Germany' has awarded contracts for constructionof a station near Raisting, about 30 miles south of Munich.The wide-band antenna will be a 75-foot diameter parabolic

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dish with a horn-reflector feed. The performance will besimilar to the stations at Andover, Pleumeur-Bodou, and Goonhilly.It is scheduled to be in operation late in 1964. In the interima smaller ground station utilizing a 30-foot diameter parabolicdish will be placed into operation during the latter part of 1963.

Voice and data transmissions via NASA's Relay satelliteare being conducted from IT&T's 40-foot dish at Nutley, NewJersey, and a 30-loot dish near Rio de Janeiro, In 1963.

NASA negotiated contractual agreements with the AmericanTelephone & Telegraph Co., and the International Telephone andTelegraph Co. to conduct the Relay communications tests at theirfacilities in the Urited States.

Technical requirements and plans ?or conducting the experi-ments are coordinated by a Ground Station Committee. The Chair-man is Leonard Jaffe, Director of Communications Systems, NASAHeadquarters. Daniel Mazur of the NASA Goddard Space FlightCenter is Alternate Chairman. Members are: J. H. H. Merriman,General Post Office. United Kingdom; R. Sueur, National Center forTelecommunications Studies, France; Ernst 0. Dietrich, West GermanPost Office; Lt. Col. G. Bandeira de Mello, Department of Postsand Telegraphs, Brazil; Dr. Hiroyuki Uyeda, Ministry of Posts andTelecommunications of Japan; Dr. P. Fanti, Telespazio of Italy;E. F. O'Neill, Telstar Project Manager, Bell Telephone Laboratories;R. H. Moseley, Jr., American Telephone & Telegraph Co.; LouisPollack, International Telephone & Telegraph Co.; Charles P. Smithand Joseph Berliner, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

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THE DELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE

Telstar is scheduled to be launched by a three-etage,NASA-developed Delta launch vehicle which has scored 16successful satellite orbits in its last 16 launchings.This record is unmatched in the history of U.S. rocketry.Project management of the Delta program is charged to theGoddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. NASAcontractor for the Delta is the Douglas Aircraft Company,Santa Monica, California.

The 90-foot Delta earmarked for Telstar has the samecharacteristics as the vehicle used to orbit the ExplorerXVII, Atmospheric Structure Satellite, April 2, 1963.These are:

First StageDouglas Aircraft Co., Thor, DM-21Propellants: RJ-1, Liquid OxygenThrust: 170,000 pounds plusLoaded Weight: 107,700 poundsThrust Duration: 160 seconds

Second Sta.eAerojet General AJ 10-118APropellants: Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine

UMDH~ and Red Fuming Nitric AcidRFNAThrust: 7,500 poundsLoaded Weight; 6,000 poundsThrust Duration: 160 secondsCoast Period After Burnout: 10 minutes

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-9-Third Stage

Naval Propellant Plant, X-248-A-5(D), Altair(Modified Vanguard)Propellant: Solid FuelThrust: 2,750 poundsLoaded Weight: 515 poundsThrust Duration: 38 seconds

GuidanceFirst & Second Stage Powered Flight: BellTelephone LaboratoriesRadio Command Series 300Third Stage: Spin Stabilized

Flight SequenceThe Thor first stage falls away after burnout. The

second stage ignites immediately and the nose fairing coverover the third stage and the payload is jettisoned. Aftersecond stage burnout, the second and third stages coast fora period of ten minutes. Then, the third stage is spinstabilized and the second stage falls away. The third stageignites, reaches an orbital velocity of about 17,000 miles anhour, ejects the payload and follows it into orbit.

TELSTAR PROJECT OFFICIALSN.A.S.A.

NASA HeadquartersMorton J. Stoller, Director, Office of ApplicationsLeonard Jaffe, Director of Communication SystemsOffice of Applications

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Joseph R. Burke, Project Officer for TELSTAKT. B. Norris, Chief of Delta ProgramLaunch Vehicle & PropulsionOffice of Space Sciences

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTERCharles P. Smith, Telstar Project Manager for NASAWilliam Schindler, Delta Program ManagerRobert Gray, Goddard Field Projects Branch at CapeCanaveralRoger V. Tetrick, NASA Tracking and Data Manager forTelstarJoseph P. Corrigan, NASA Communications Manager

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