COMSAT Pathways, July
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July-August 1976 SATELLITE Volume 1 Number 6 09 iftlwt I•jCOMT GENERAL CORPORATION C. %1^ ^IWHAT COMSA T GENERAL CORPORA TION CONTENTS SATELLITE PAGE fith zivdys Satellites in demand (luring Bicentennial month: Viking mission to Mars, NBC's Glorious Fourth, USIA's Salute by Satellite, From New York: The July-August 1976 Parade of Ships 1 Volume 1 Number 6 NIARISAT's telephone call "fantastic" I I PATHWAYS is published every NI,\RI t provides full service over Atlantic 12 other month by the Office of Public and Pacific satellites Information , Communications Sat- Second in series of C 0,\IS'I ARS launched 12 ellite Corporation , COMSAT Build- ing, 950 L 'Enfant Plaza, S.W., ''Informational" tariffs filed with FCC 13 Washington , D.C. 20024 . Phone AC 202, 554 -6104 or 6105. Twenty-second Meeting of INTELSAT Board of Gov- ernors completes busy session 13 EDITOR John J. Peterson New 1NTELSAT traffic data base shows pattern of long-term growth for system 17 PHOTOGRAPHY People and customs of ' lhe Vague . A feature by Allan W . Galfund IS James T. McKenna Betty Paulsen 20 STAFF CONTRIBUTORS News of the Corporation Daniel N. Crampton Allan W . Galfund Labs radio "Hams" participate in Field Day. A Larry G. Hastings feature by Joe Kasser 21 James H. Kilcoyne James T. McKenna Carter 22 Edgar Bolen , Production Books Worth Reading by Rita 23 PUBLICATION ADVISORS Network Bits COMSAT Joseph V. Charyk Labs Closeup by Shirley Taylor 24 President Lucius D. Battle Senior Vice President. Corporate Affairs B.I. Edelson Cover. On July 26 the cover photograph was Viking 1 Lander with various identifications vi- Director , COMSAT Laboratories transmitted to earth from the surface of Mars. sible: the Flag of the United States, the Bicen- Robert B. Schwartz This photo was chosen for the cover for sev- tennial logo immediately below the flag and the Secretary and Director eral reasons, one of which is that the final leg Viking symbol. The scene in the background of Public Information of the photographic journey was by satellite, is looking almost due west on Mars. The lighter Stephen D. Smoke from the Buitrago Earth Station in Spain over zone at the far horizon is about two miles from Manager . Publications the Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT IV-A to COMSAT's the Lander. The picture was taken at local Mars Lawrence Weekley Earth Station at Etam, West Virginia. Other time of 7:18 a.m., hence the relatively dark sky Manager , Media Relations reasons for using the photograph include the and the far horizon illuminated by the sun just and Information Services view of the Martian surface and a part of the rising behind the Lander. NASA photo. COMSAT General Hale Montgomery Director , Business Promotion A member of the International Association of Business Communicators. ©COMMUNICATIONS SATFLLIT F CORPORATION I9'6 Satellites in demand during Bicentennial month art i • ^^_J <, vi1 •'^ ^^ Rw tee . .3 ri • _ r 9 +rs • tw. ' a ...^ ' ^... ^ - ._^^ ^. ^.. ..rte -q,_ '6. yT . ,- r'• 3' - _ - --o^ . - •.• :. -.W - IMP " A Jib, -W 1wl 0-1oet *A$A °antehn Gti/MM e required extensive aft of the to Atden% and Pacific C et*iottse and jf ginia; and , Calif&n%a,' to cf Jbe lit on Mmktn 'Y Contr en alit nla ,TI* d aph M`made the last laW their wrnw t tcd SA IF system of satellites • and..:eartth stations. Appr "^ • Scii , Chief. NASAL nicatlpnm ' it fn Merl ^t ns roui ` '^ • ,,.►'^ First color photograph taken on the surface of Mars. Viking Mission to Mars ails iiAS FX :i ]E > man's imagina- rotated on a north-south axis like To impress the reader with the M tion more than any other celes- Earth, producing a day that was importance of the latest scientific tial body except the Sun and the about half an hour longer than achievement of the United States Moon. Its unusual reddish color, Earth's. in space exploration , the follow- which the ancients associated with In 1666, the Italian astronomer ing article is reprinted from fire and blood, gave rise to its being Giovanni I). Cassini observed and NA,SA'% G'zkina 1'7es^ Kit. named for the Roman God of bVar. sketched the Martian polar caps. Ob- I III Eorr(ttc The invention of the astronomical servers in the early I700's noted telescope by Galileo in 1608 opened Christian Iluygens made the first changes in the surface appearance in a new era in the observation of the sketch in 1659 of the dark region. a matter of hours, probably caused planet. Instead of appearing merely Syrtis Major (" giant quicksands''). by dust storms, now known to rage as a tiny disc, Mars' surface features Able to observe a distinguishable fea- periodically. In 1783, William Her- could be resolved. ture , Huygens could show that Mars schel observed that Mars' axis of rota- JULY - AUGUST 1976 1 °'" •- `'' -r4 • ^ `.`^^'' ±• _ •, .: W`t: Vii` ^' \ !a' L "--i. ..•,.C2. ► . „ Aft ..`^^ First panoramic view by Viking 1 from the surface of Mars. The out- of-focus spacecraft component at the far left is the housing for the Viking sample arm not yet deployed. To the left of the right-hand PHOTOS COURTESY OF NASA Lion is inclined to its orbital plane at about the same extent as Earth's, re- part of the century. with no possibil- which the Viking sites have been se- vcaling that long-term changes were ity of an unequivocal resolution. but lected. often associated with seasons that a gradual tendency developed among The scientific goal of the Viking would result from such inclination. scientists to be very skeptical of the missions is to "increase our know- In the l7th and 18th centuries, it likelihood. The skepticism was rein- ledge of the planet Mars with special was commonly accepted that Mars forced by the results of two Mariner emphasis on the search for evidence and the other planets were inhabited, flyby missions in 1963 and 1969. The of extraterrestrial life." The scientific but the real excitement was created limited coverage of only about 10 per questions deal with the atmosphere, by Giovanni Schiaparelli and Percival cent of the Martian surface by flyby the surface, the planetary body, and Lowell between 1877 and 1920. As a photography indicated that \tars was the question of bio-organic evolution. result of extensive observations, he- a lunar-like planet with a uniformly This goal ultimately means under- ginning with the favorable apparition cratered surface. standing the history of the planet. of 1877. Schiaparelli constructed de- In 1971-72 the ;Mariner 9 Orbiter The physical and chemical compo- tailed maps with many features, in- revealed a completely new and differ- sition of the atmosphere and its dy- cluding a number of dark, almost ent face of Mars. Whereas the flyby namics are of considerable interest, straight lines, some of them hundreds coverage had seen only a single geo- not only because they will extend out' of kilometers long. lie referred to logic regime in the cratered highlands understanding of planetary atmos- them as "canali" or channels. of the southern hemisphere. Mariner pheric sciences, but because of the in- II'hrough mistranslation. they be- 9 revealed gigantic volcanoes, it rift tense focus of interest in contempo- came "canals" and the idea of civ- valley that extends a fifth of the way rary terrestrial atmospheric problems. ilized societies was propagated. around the planet's circumference, We want to understand how to Lowell's firm opinion that the ca- and possible evidence of (lowing liquid model our own atmosphere more ac- nals were not natural features but water sometime in the past. Also re- curately, and we want to know how the work of "intelligent creatures, vealed were layered terrain in the the solar wind interacts with the up- alike to us in spirit but not in form,- polar regions, and the effects of dust per atmosphere: to do this we must contributed to the colorful literature. moved by winds of several hundred know more about its chemistry, the To pursue his interest in the canals kilometers an hour. contpisitiont of neutral gases and and Mars, he founded the Lowell Ob- In short, Mariner 9's 7,000 de- charged particles. servatory near Flagstaff, :\rizona, in tailed pictures revealed a dynamic. We want to reconstruct the physics 1894, and his writings about the ca- evolving stars completely different of the atmosphere and determine its nals and possible life on Mars created from the lunar-like planet suggested density profile. We want to measure great public excitement near the turn by the Ilyby evidence. That eminently the atmosphere down to the surface of the 20hh Century. successful Orbiter mission showed a and follow its changes, daily and sea- Speculation about intelligent life fascinating subject for scientific study sonally. From these data may come on Atar's continued through the first and also provided the maps from clues to the atmospheric processes 2 PATHWAYS page, on the Lander , the low-gain antenna for receipt of commands from the earth can be seen . The horizon features are approximately 1.8 miles away. The photos together complete a 300- degree panorama. Finally, we regard as of utmost irn- that have been taking place and de- itation , is the age of the planet. portance a knowledge of the organic termining the planet's character. One mystery that Viking may character of the planet. Whether life Of special interest is the question solve is the fate of nitrogen. So far has begun or not, it is critical to our of water on Mars. Scientific literature there has been no report of' nitrogen concept of chemical evolution to de- is sparse in data and rich in specula- on Mars.