Communication Satellites:
Advances in ICT Revolution
My readers, please,
refer to the concluding part of my 4-series article titled “Apollo 11: What
next After 50 Years of Man’s Terrestrial Romance with Space?” published between
August and September in this Column. Somewhere in that article I wrote “On launching satellite for
communication, this column will feature several breakthroughs made in
communication satellites another time”. I think the time has come to fulfill
that pledge. The outcomes of the satellite technology are positively affecting
all facets of human developments in what we call “global village”. An enormous
thank to “Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”. I am sure it may
interest many to know the antecedents and advances of the ICT revolution in
today’s world. Although, this subject is
highly technical, sometimes incomprehensive and boring to people who are not
scientifically grounded but care will be taken to simplify the technical
jargons of the ICT gurus for the benefits of others.
One of the most amazing
natural creations in planetary world is space, a region beyond the earth’s
atmosphere or even beyond the solar system. Some of the contents of the space,
billions of kilometers away from the earth are seen with naked eyes while
millions of others are seen with the aid of telescopes and yet several others
in billions are never seen. The wonders of nature, the Omnipotent perfect
creation of the universe. Mysteries surrounding the space and its contents
motivated the development of space science that gave birth to space technology.
Today, Space technology is referred to an aerospace industry for use in
spaceflight, satellites, or space exploration. It is in this space a huge
man-made structure called ‘satellite’ or spacecraft is placed and operated by
mankind and for the benefit of mankind. A
satellite is an object in space that moves around a bigger object. In space,
there are two types of satellites: natural, as in the case of moon orbiting the
Earth and artificial as in case of International Space Station orbiting the
Earth. Before sixty years ago, nobody was thinking of artificial satellite in
space until in the year, 1957.
Historically, Russia
was the first country to send artificial satellite into space. The satellite
was a beach-ball-size probe nicknamed “Sputnik”. Sputnik was launched on Oct. 4th,
1957. The launching of Sputnik shocked the world especially the developed
countries, as it was believed then that Russia was not technologically capable
of sending satellites into space. The Sputnik launch sent a shockwave through
the American public, who then believed they were more scientifically superior
compared to the other countries especially Russia, which then Soviet Union.
This was in addition to American economic boom amid a post-war. With a single
shot of Sputnik into space, the Soviet Union not only launched the first
artificial satellite but also officially inaugurated what was then termed a
"space race" with the United States. The space race was a series of
competitive technology demonstrations between the United States and the Soviet
Union, aiming to show superiority in spaceflight. It was an outgrowth of the
mid-20th-century Cold War, a tense global conflict that pitted the ideologies
of capitalism and communism against one another. Consequently, the Russian
satellite launch made American public reflected the echoes of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor during the Second World War, sixteen years earlier. Americans
felt that the Soviets were behind the U.S. technologically after the
devastation of World War II, so the successful satellite launching by Russia
means a lot to Americans. Being a period of fear and anxiety, could Soviet
Unions launch ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons at the United
States through Satellite? Space race heightened the intensity of the cold war. Well,
the cold war came and gone without casualties, the world continued to enjoy the
unlimited benefits of satellite technology. Now, what are the breakthroughs in
communication satellite?
Every man-made
satellite consists of four main parts; a power system or prime mover, which
could be solar or nuclear source, a means of controlling its altitude, an
antenna to transmit and receive information, and a payload such as a camera or
particle detector to collect information. With these components, satellites
function effectively over long period from months to years uninterrupted. Broadly,
satellites are used functionally for improved weather forecasts for large areas
on earth, land watching to track series of changes in forests, water and other
parts of Earth's surface over time and communication services. As discussed in my previous articles,
satellites are basically classified into three categories depending on their
distance from the earth surface. There are Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites
with a range of distance between 160 to 2,000km from the earth surface, Medium
Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites with a distance between 2,000 to 35,000Km and
Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites with a distance over 35,000 km from the
earth surface. GEO satellites are seen to be stationary because their movement is
the same relative to the earth’s rotation. They revolve around the earth at 360o
in every 24 hours.
In the last five
centuries, amongst all the modern advancements, space technology has been the
most impactful on humanity with trillion of US Dollars investment. In all aspects of the space technology,
communication satellite has probably had more effect on the average person than
the rest. Satellite communications is truly the only commercial space
technology that generates billions of dollars annually in sales of products and
services all over the world.
There are three
types of communication services that satellites provide: telecommunications,
broadcasting, and data communications. Telecommunication services include
telephone calls and services provided to telephone companies, as well as
wireless, mobile, and cellular network providers. What is historical antecedent
of using satellite for communication services?
According to
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/technology/satellite-communication/Satellite-applications),
the world's first active communications satellite, Telstar 1, was launched in
1962. Telesat’s predecessors at AT&T and Bell Laboratories built the
satellite. During its seven months in operation, Telstar 1 dazzled the world
with live images of sports, entertainment and news. It was a simple
single-transponder low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite, but its technology of
receiving radio signals from the earth’s surface, and then amplified and
retransmitted the signals over a large portion of the earth's surface, set the
standard for all communications satellites that followed. As discussed in this
column, within decades between the 1960s and 1970s, advances in satellite
performance came quickly and a global industry began to develop. Satellites
were mainly used at first for international and long-distanced telephone
traffic and distribution of select television programming, both internationally
and domestically. In 1973 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation began
distributing its video programming to Canadian customers using Telesat’s Anik A
satellite. Then in 1975 HBO began distributing its video programming to US
customers by satellite. The commercial and technical success of these ventures
led to a greater use and acceptance of satellite broadcasting. By the 1990s,
satellite communications became the primary means of distributing TV programs
around the world.
In a relatively
short span of time, satellite technology has developed from the experimental
with Sputnik in 1957 to the sophisticated and powerful technology applicable in
all aspects of human endvors. Future communication satellites will have more
onboard processing capabilities, more power, and larger-aperture antennas that
will enable satellites to handle more bandwidth. There is likely to have further
improvements in satellites’ propulsion and power systems will increase their
service life to 20–30 years from the current 10–15 years. In addition, other
technical innovations such as low-cost reusable launch vehicles are in
development. With increasing video, voice, and data traffic requiring larger
amounts of bandwidth, there is no dearth of emerging applications that will
drive demand for the satellite services in the years to come. The demand for
more bandwidth, coupled with the continuing innovation and development of
satellite technology, will ensure the long-term viability of the commercial
satellite industry well into the 21st century.
In the next few
years, there will more people in the world needing communication services at
cheaper rate and higher speed, on real-time. The scientists working tirelessly
will come out with more advancement in communication satellites to meet the
demands of the teeming world population. Nigeria, as a nation should key into
this technological breakthrough for the benefits of Nigerian and in deed the
entire African continent.
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