Exhibit A-The SCORE Satellite Radio Relay System.... Exhibit B-The TIROS I Satellite System....... Exhibit C-Description of a Synchronous Communications 20 Exhibit E-A Synchronous Communications Satellite in Space 30 Exhibit F-The Geometry of a Synchronous Communications 32 COMMENTS OF RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA AND RCA COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Radio Corporation of America and RCA Communications, Inc., submit the following comments in response to the Commission's Notice of Inquiry and Supplemental Notice in this proceeding relating to space communications. A New Concept of Global Communications The swift development of electronics and the advent of space technology have opened together the prospect of a new and unprecedented approach to world-wide communications through a reliable and economical all-purpose satellite relay system available to users in every nation. This approach envisions the use of versatile, large-capacity repeater synchronous satellites positioned at two or three locations above the equator, and open to full and independent access for all international radio, telephone, telegraph, data, and television services through their own ground stations. A system of this type employing only two satellites could link the major international communications areas of both hemispheres. With three satellites, it would cover every inhabited part of the world, with substantial overlapping. On the basis of extensive studies, RCA has developed specifications for such a system in a form that lies within the present state of the electronic art and is capable of achievement during the 1960's. This system is discussed in greater detail below, and forms the basis of RCA's comments on the questions set forth by the Commission in its notices. First, however, it is appropriate to outline the background of experience from which this concept has evolved. The Growth of the Concept Early Work RCA, long experienced in international radio communications, began its space activities in 1951 with a broad design program for earth satellites and ground tracking stations. This program produced a number of concepts relating to the use of satellites for both civilian and military services. In 1955, RCA made an extensive study exploring the feasibility of electronically equipped satellites. A related phase of the early work led in 1956 to the system concept known initially as MAILBAG, and applied subsequently to Project SCORE, the pioneering Atlas satellite relay experiment of the United States Army Signal Corps. SCORE was the first successful attempt to use a satellite as a relay station for radio communication between two points on earth. It was used by President Eisenhower in December, 1958, to deliver a Christmas message to the world by telephonic transmission. RCA supplied the radio communications equipment carried in the SCORE satellite, as well as the transmitting and receiving equipment on the ground. RCA also participated in the operation of the ground stations and the analysis of resulting data. A representation of the SCORE satellite is appended as Exhibit A. Further studies by RCA led in 1959 to the concept of STAR-Satellite Television Atlantic Relay-a proposal to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for a television link between the United States and Europe. During 1960, NASA launched the ECHO I balloon satellite to test the feasibility of relaying radio signals over long distances by "bouncing" them from passive reflecting surfaces in space. RCA contributed to this project by developing the two miniaturized beacon transmitters which were attached to the balloon to permit radio tracking from the ground. TIROS The TIROS I and TIROS II television weather satellites, together with their associated ground systems, were designed and developed by RCA for NASA and have been operated with outstanding success. RCA engineers also participated in operation of the TIROS ground stations and the analysis of the resulting data. A description of the TIROS system is appended as Exhibit B. The experience obtained in the operation of these various satellite systems, from SCORE to TIROS II, has been extremely helpful in evaluating the feasibility of space communications and in studying the types of systems which might be used to accomplish the most useful results. Augmenting this experience has been RCA's extensive participation through the same period in various phases of missile and satellite operations at Cape Canaveral, where RCA is responsible for the acquisition and reduction of data and for telemetry, tracking, and related communication functions. Microwave Communications Systems Further experience which contributes to the growth of new space communications concepts comes from RCA's development of surface communications systems. An outstanding example is the RCA MM-600 high-capacity microwave relay system employing traveling wave tubes. One of these systems, among the most advanced yet to be developed, is now being installed to handle transmission of information from a military BMEWS missile detection station. Other major installations have been completed for television, voice, and data transmissions, and a transcontinental microwave system is being equipped by RCA. Communications Services This background of space communications study and experience has been superimposed upon more than forty years of extensive RCA activity in international radio communications. The corporation was, in fact, formed in 1919 at the suggestion of the United States Navy for the specific purpose of providing such communications. 73254 0-61-pt. 1- -2 RCA Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of RCA, today operates a world-wide radio network linking the United States and 69 countries with flexible and economical direct services. Many innovations have been introduced into this system over the years as an outgrowth of RCA's technical pioneering services such as international telex (teleprinter exchange) and leased channels for teleprinter, facsimile, telephone, and data communications. Recently, these radio facilities have been augmented with circuits in the submarine telephone cable systems and with the installation of additional terminal equipment. With the advent of space technology and the ceaseless expansion of world-wide demand for electronic communications, RCA and its communications subsidiary have blended their experience in these two fields in the study of new satellite systems which can increase the capacity of present international networks and provide entirely new services. From this intensive investigation has emerged the concept of the all-purpose relay system. The Proposed Satellite Communications System The objective of RCA's study has been to determine the best method for attaining a high-capacity global communications system based on the use of one or more satellites. The field of study has included all known possible techniques: passive systems in which signals are relayed by "bouncing" from reflecting satellites such as ECHO I; active systems in which signals are received, amplified, and re-transmitted by equipment in the satellite; multiple low-altitude systems employing numbers of passive or active satellites in orbits several hundred or a few thousand miles above the earth; and synchronous satellites, which orbit about 22,300 miles above the equator at a speed matching the speed of the earth's rotation, so that they remain effectively "fixed" above one point on the earth's surface. Among the basic factors considered by RCA's engineers and scientists in this study, the following are most significant: 1. Any active satellite relay system must be designed to serve many nations rather than only one, since its primary contemplated use is for international communications. Furthermore, the most practical frequencies for such service, in relation to the bandwidth that will be |