Satcom (satellite)


Columbia in 1986. The illuminated side of the satellite is one set of solar panels which were extended when the satellite propelled itself to its geostationary orbit
The Satcom series was a family of communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications. Satcom was one of the early geostationary satellites; the first were the Syncom series, in 1964. The first Satcom satellite, Satcom 1, was launched on December 13, 1975. The last satellite, Satcom K2, was placed into orbit on November 27, 1985 and was de-orbited in February 2002. Satcom was first superseded and then replaced by the GE series of satellites.
Satcom was an artificial geo-stationary satellite that facilitated wide-area telecommunications by receiving radio signals from Earth, amplifying them, and relaying them back down to terrestrial receivers.
The Satcom system passed to General Electric with its purchase of RCA in 1986. RCA Americom became GE American Communications and the satellite construction division became GE Astro Space. GE Astro Space was sold to Martin Marietta in 1993. In 2001 GE sold GE Americom to SES Global, creating SES Americom.

History

Most early commercial communications satellites were built for and operated by telecommunications companies. RCA, with its own RCA Astro Electronics satellite construction business, identified a role for itself as a satellite owner/operator.
Satcom 1 was used as the launching ground for many cable TV services including HBO, Showtime, Superstation TBS, Nickelodeon, the FBC Network of Tom Ficara, the CBN cable network, ESPN, and The Weather Channel. The satellite spurred the cable television industry to unprecedented heights with the assistance of HBO. Cable television networks relay signals to ground-based cable television headends using satellites, which allowed cable TV to enter into the suburban and metropolitan markets, thus allowing HBO to accumulate 1.6 million subscribers by the end of 1977.
A notable legal battle involved Ted Turner suing RCA to get a Satcom 1 transponder in 1980 for the launch of CNN on June 1, 1980. CNN had been scheduled for a Satcom 3 transponder but that satellite failed to reach geosynchronous orbit upon its launch on December 7, 1979.
Shortly after its launch, Satcom 1 was the first satellite used by broadcast TV networks in the United States. The networks ABC, NBC, and CBS distributed their programming content to some local affiliate stations, which had before relied on AT&T's terrestrial microwave and coaxial networks to distribute & relay programming. The networks fed to both Satcom 1 and AT&T's network at the same time up until the breakup of AT&T in 1984, when the networks switched exclusively to satellite distribution on Satcom 1, due to the much lower transmission costs, as well as due to AT&T's divestiture itself.
The reason that Satcom 1 was so widely used by both cable and broadcast TV networks is that it had twice the communications capacity of the competing Westar 1, which resulted in lower transponder usage costs in general.

Satellite fleet

All the remaining Satcom satellites were retired in the early 2000s and replaced by the GE/AMC series, originally by GE Americom, then sold to SES.
ModelManufacturerLaunch dateLaunch vehicleCOSPAR IDComments
Satcom 1RCA Astro ElectronicsDecember 12, 1975Delta 3000
Satcom 2RCA Astro ElectronicsMarch 26, 1976Delta 3000
Satcom 3RCA Astro ElectronicsDecember 7, 1979Delta 3000Failure during GTO
Satcom 1RRCA Astro ElectronicsApril 11, 1983Delta 3000Replaced Satcom 1
Satcom 2RRCA Astro ElectronicsSeptember 8, 1983Delta 3000Replaced Satcom 2
Satcom 3RRCA Astro ElectronicsNovember 20, 1981Delta 3000Replaced Satcom 3
Satcom 4RCA Astro ElectronicsJanuary 16, 1982Delta 3000
Satcom 5RCA Astro ElectronicsOctober 28, 1982Delta 3000Also called Aurora 1, still on 105.2'W
Satcom 4RHughesNovember 8, 1984STS-51-A Launched as Anik D2, purchased in orbit
Satcom C1GE Astro SpaceNovember 20, 1990Ariane 42PReplaced Satcom 1R
Satcom C3GE Astro SpaceSeptember 11, 1992Ariane 44LP
Satcom C4GE Astro SpaceAugust 31, 1992Delta II
Satcom C5GE Astro SpaceMay 29, 1991Delta II Originally called Aurora 2, replaced Aurora 1 / Satcom 5
Satcom K1RCA Astro ElectronicsJanuary 12, 1986STS-61-C
Satcom K2RCA Astro ElectronicsNovember 27, 1985STS-61-B
Satcom K3GE Astro SpaceMarch 2, 1991Ariane 44LPSold during construction to SES; launched as Astra 1B
Satcom K4GE Astro SpaceJune 10, 1992Atlas IISold during construction to Intelsat, launched as Intelsat K