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The Relay program consisted of Relay 1 and Relay 2, two early American
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
s in elliptical
medium Earth orbit A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between above sea level.
. Both were primarily experimental
communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth ...
s funded by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
and developed by
RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
. As of December 2, 2016, both satellites were still in orbit. Relay 1 provided the first American television transmissions across the Pacific Ocean.


Relay 1

Relay 1 was launched atop a Delta B rocket on December 13, 1962, from LC-17A at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...
. Its payload included
radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
experiments designed to map the Earth's radiation belts. Apogee was 7500 km; perigee 1300. The
spin-stabilized satellite Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle/satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...
had an initial spin rate of 167.3 rpm and an initial spin axis orientation with a declination of -68.3 deg and a right ascension of -56 deg. Its orbital period was 185.09 minutes. Shortly after launch, two basic problems evolved. One was the satellite's response to spurious commands, and the other was the leakage of a high-power regulator. This leakage caused the first two weeks of satellite operation to be useless. After this period, satellite operation returned to normal. The satellite carried one transmitter for tracking and one for
telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", an ...
. The telemetry system was PCM at 1152 bit/s. Each 128 words per telemetry frame (of one second duration) used 113 words for the particle experiment. The leakage problem caused the
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...
to revert to a low voltage state early in 1965. Sporadic transmission occurred until February 10, 1965, after which no usable scientific data was obtained. Relay 1 was the first satellite to broadcast television from the United States to Japan. The first broadcast during orbit 2677 (1963-11-22, 2027:42-2048 (GMT), or 1:27 pm Dallas time) was to be a prerecorded address from the president of the United States to the Japanese people, but was instead the announcement of the
John F. Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
. On orbit 2678, this satellite carried a broadcast titled ''Record, Life of the Late John F. Kennedy'', the first television program broadcast simultaneously in the U.S. and Japan. In later orbits,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
transmitted coverage of the funeral procession from the White House to the cathedral. In the three days following the Kennedy assassination, Relay 1 handled a total of 11 spot broadcasts; eight to Europe and three to Japan. All the useful passes of the satellite were made available to permit immediate coverage of the tragic events. In August 1964, this satellite was used as the United States-Europe link for the broadcast of the
1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this h ...
from
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, after the signal was relayed to the United States via
Syncom 3 Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by the Space and Communications division of Hughes Aircraft Compa ...
. This marked the first time that two satellites were used in tandem for a television broadcast.
COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU). Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, wi ...
satellite ID: Relay 1 1962-Beta-Upsilon 1 (62BU1)


Relay 2

Relay 2 was launched atop a Delta B rocket on January 21, 1964, from LC-17B at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...
. Apogee 7600 km; perigee 1870 km. It was physically similar to Relay 1. Design changes in this satellite improved its performance so response to spurious commands was essentially eliminated. NASA ceased operations with Relay 2 on September 26, 1965, with the repurposing of the Mojave Desert Ground Station, the only one in the world equipped to communicate with the satellite, for use with the
Applications Technology Satellite The Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) were a series of experimental satellites launched by NASA, under the supervision of, among others, Wernher von Braun. The program was launched in 1966 to test the feasibility of placing a satellite i ...
program. The final broadcast was of Sen. B. Everett Jordon (D-N.C.) opening the week-long International Exposition of the American Textile Machinery Association in Exposition Hall in Atlantic City. One of the two onboard
transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...
s operated normally until November 20, 1966. From that time until its failure on January 20, 1967, it required a longer time than normal to come on. The other transponder continued to operate until June 9, 1967, when it too failed to operate normally. COSPAR satellite ID: Relay 2 1964-003A


See also

*
List of communications satellite firsts Milestones in the history of communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source tra ...
* Launch data: ** 1962 in spaceflight (July–December) (Relay 1) ** 1964 in spaceflight (January–June) (Relay 2) * State funeral of John F. Kennedy


References


External links

* NASA Space Science Data Center description: *
Relay 1
*
Relay 2
* NASA FACTS PROJECT RELAY G-12-62 {{Use American English, date=January 2014 1962 in spaceflight NASA programs History of telecommunications Communications satellites Satellites orbiting Earth 1964 in spaceflight Spacecraft launched in 1962 Spacecraft launched in 1964 Satellites of the United States