SYNCOM
Satellite Communications Glossary
Satellite Communications — Syncom
Information on Syncom
On 14 February 1963, NASA and the US Department of
Defense launched Syncom I, the first satellite planned for
a geosynchronous orbit. Although Syncom I was lost during
injection into synchronous orbit, Syncom II and Syncom
III were launched successfully on 26 July 1963 and 19
August 1964 respectively and continued service until after 1965.
Syncom satellites were cylindrical, spin-stabilised platforms. Syncom II was
not quite geostationary, with an inclined orbit of 33.1°. Syncom III was much closer to geostationary orbit with an
inclination of 1°. Two transponders were on board; one had
two 500-kHz narrow-band channels, the other provided a 5-MHz wideband
channel. The satellite transmitters each generated 2.3W and, using FM
or PSK, could support two simultaneous full-duplex carriers (7.363 GHz
uplink, 1.815 GHz downlink). Syncom II carried telephone, teletype
and facsimile traffic between Africa, Europe and the US. Syncom III was used to broadcast the 1964 Tokyo Olympic
Games.
Other topics in our resources on Satellite Communications related to Syncom include:
Please contact Argos Press if you would like to suggest other entries for our glossaries. Please also contact Argos Press for information on licensing Argos Press content (such as this entry on Syncom). © Argos Press Pty Ltd, Canberra, 2003-2004. All rights reserved.