Satellite history
A satellite is a natural or artificial body in an orbit around a planet. The Moon is an example of a natural satellite. The first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, which was launched by what was then the Soviet Union in 1957. Over the next 30 or so years, up to 1988, about 120 satellites were launched every year. Most of these satellites were for military purposes. When the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, the number of military satellites declined. Instead, the purpose of satellites has increasingly shifted to communications and the mapping of natural resources, for example.
The first time a satellite was used to relay television pictures was during the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. The satellite was American and was called Syncom 3. The first satellite solely for communications was called Early Bird. It was launched in 1965. To begin with, communication satellites were used to relay television pictures and telephone calls between continents. Today's satellites transmit television directly to our homes, via cable operators or ground stations for onward distribution. Today, forty years after the launch of Sputnik 1, satellite communication is a well-established, efficient and reliable form of distribution.
The communication satellite SIRIUS 4 is mounted into the nose cone of an ILS Proton rocket.
