What is a Communications Satellite?
A communications satellite is a device used to receive and transmit radio signals in space. The satellite has communications equipment including receive and transmit antennas, power, and electronic components which enable it to receive a signal from a satellite terminal/user and then transmit that same signal to another satellite terminal/user.
A communications satellite, or comsat, is an orbiting, artificial device in space used to create communication links. Using advance radio transmitting technology and several orbiting patterns, comsats provide for a variety of communication needs, including TV broadcasting and communication with ships and planes. A communications satellite is particularly useful in cases where land-based cables are inconvenient or impossible to use. The first communications satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. Not to be outdone in the space race, the United States responded in 1958 with the launch of Project SCORE which was used to forward a recorded worldwide Christmas greeting from President Eisenhower. The first privately sponsored communications satellite, Telstar, was launched in 1962 as a joint project between AT&T, Bell Telephone, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National Post Office. Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit and was the first direc
