Satellite Television System
Where did the satellite television system come from? Did it just appear one day? Interestingly, the very first of this technology sprung up during the Sixties.
While many people may thing that the satellite television system is a recent invention, this is actually not true. The very first communication satellite was launched in 1963. This satellite called the Syncom 2 was not for commercial purposes, but it did prove that the technology could exist. The very first commercial satellite, Intelsat I, was sent into orbit on April 6, 1965. However, it was not until 1967 that the first satellite network was launched. The Soviet Union placed the first satellite network into space in 1967, though North America did not catch up to this technology until 1972.
Those satellites that we rely upon today orbit the earth at approximately 22,000 miles. These satellites spend most of their lives in an area of space called the Clarke Belt. In order for us to watch television, these small dishes must gather information, send it back to a large dish on earth where the language is transformed, and then it is sent to your own home dish. The process takes very little time, even though the signal is traveling for thousands of miles. Imagine an entire area of space covered in satellites all broadcasting different things – amazing, isn’t it?
As you can see, the satellite television system has come a long way from its humble beginnings during the Sixties. Even though the technology existed during this decade, it took another decade for commercial initiatives to catch on. While we mostly think of this technology in terms of television, there are many other things that are going on up in that sky. Numerous countries depend upon these signals for intelligence purposes, and these signals also broadcast other bits of information to and from various spots on earth.
If you could draw a line from every signal in space to its direct spot on Earth, how many lines do you think you would draw? Most likely, this number would be in the millions – billions even. The next time you scream at that remote, think about all the things that your satellite is doing in order to bring you your favorite shows – this small device is working hard every day!
Isn’t the world of satellite television systems intriguing? From the Clarke Belt all the way to your living room, that signal has travelled a long way to make sure that you are happy with your television viewing time.