The Telstar Satellite System

The Telstar system consists of the active communication satellite repeater in orbit and ground facilities to work with it. The satellite was designed and built by Bell Telephone Laboratories and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the terms of a cooperative agreement. Bell Laboratories built the ground station at Andover, Maine, and furnished launch support equipment at Cape Canaveral. The station at Holmdel, New Jersey, 1 originally built for the Echo project, was modified to work with the Telstar system. Participating European stations were constructed at Cioonhilly Downs in England, Plcumeur-Bodou in France, and Fucino in Italy by telecommunications agencies in the respective countries. This paper gives a general description of the Telstar satellite system. It starts with a discussion of the over-all system design. This is followed by a more detailed discussion of the factors affecting the choice of the orbit and of the operating frequencies. The satellite, the Andover ground station, and the equipment at Cape Canaveral are next described and, finally, certain important transmission parameters are presented. TT. SYSTEM OBJECTIVES