Mobile Satellite Communications Handbook, 2nd Edition

Appendix I

US Communications Satellite Timeline 1940s Through 1990s

Courtesy of Nasa^*

I.1 Timeline of Selected Events in the Development of Satellite Communications

Pre-1940s
1895	Tsiolkovsky describes a geosynchronous orbit.
1929	Noordung describes radio communications with a space station in a geosynchronous orbit using large antennas and solar power.
The 1940s
October 1945	Arthur C. Clarke's article, “Extra-Terrestrial Relays” in Wireless World, suggests global coverage with three satellites in a geosynchronous orbit.
10 January 1946	U.S. Army Signal Corps under John H. DeWitt, Jr., succeeds in bouncing radar waves off the Moon.
6 February 1946	Zoltan Bay reflects radar waves off the Moon.
12 May 1946	A RAND study proposes a synchronous communications relay system.
October 1946	Stanford University begins meteor radar studies; this is the start of meteor burst communications.
The 1950s
21 October 1951	The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) carries out the first use of the Moon as a relay in a radio communications circuit.
8 November 1951	Researchers at the National Bureau of Standards Central Radio Propagation Laboratory (Sterling, Virginia) and Collins Radio (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) relay a telegraph message via the Moon.
24 July 1954	NRL achieves the first voice transmission via the Moon.
April 1955	John R. Pierce's article, “Orbital Radio Relays,” is published in Jet Propulsion.
29 November 1955	NRL demonstrates transcontinental teleprinter ...