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laPtwii (Ark.) II Dirdi Tlmti - Tims day, fapt. 21, 196SElectronic Stairway Takes ShapenlM lo Ukt riwpc in the rugged Ouachita Mountains of Montgomery County. In a remoteareathreeArkansas News Bar sonCADDO GAP - An electronic t0 *» *f*n TTie facilitystairway to the stars is begin- ke operated by Hughes scientists.Ibis will be Arkansas' second link with space. A Naval Space Surveillance Station is now in operation near Lewisville insouthwest Arkansas.Hughes' speciality is synchronous communications satellites — known as Syncom The satellite gains stability in space by spinning like a gyroscope 22,300 miles above earth.The California company's latest achievement is the Early Bird satellite, made for the Comsat Corp. (Communications Satellite orp.) This first commercial operational satellite was launched from Cape Kennedy. Fla. last April 6miles west of Caddo Gap—there ie a sturdy, chain-link fence with a sign The big letters spell HUGHES. The smaller letters complete the identification »- Hughes Aircraft Company Space Systems Division.A beehive of activity is under way behind the fence as construction moves along on a research and test station for communications satellites.Work started in mid-August, and completion is expected within a year. According to the original announcement, made last May, the experimental station will consist of an 85-foot diameter antenna, transmitter and receiver facilities and housing for personnel and equipmentThe project will cost more than 91.5 million, much of which will be the latest in space communications equipment The financing is being done entirely by the Hughes Aircraft Company, a pioneer in the communications satellite field This will be Hughes’ first experimental station of its kind outside Culver City, Calif , headquarters for the firm’s vast operations The station's antenna will be able to communicate through satellites with vrtually every part of the world A spokesman for the Hughes Company has disclosed that two small versions of the Caddo Gap facility have been constructed in Saigon, Viet Nam and are being used for military communications purposes Hughes officials had been searching for an Arkansas site for many months before deciding that the area near Caddo Gap — between Norman and Glenwood — would be the best location. A search had been made for sites in northwest Arkansas but these were found to be unfeasible because of interference from microwave facilities.Caddo Gap’s initial excitement has settled down to routine curiosity What effect the research station has on the community of nearly 300 populationAccording to Hughes officials, the Early Bird is capable of handling a volume of traffic equal to that of all transatlantic voice cables now in use.Like the other communications one another satellites, it was launched into synchronous orbit and is now hovering 22,300 miles from earth. It is used for communications between North America and Europe. Within time, ground stations, presumably the one at Caddo Gap and elsewhere, will tie the other continents into the commercial satellite network.Hughes’ scientists describethis concept of the synchronous communications satellite:“Synchronous means that the satellite’s orbital period {slightly less than 24 hours) matches that of the earth’s rotation For the satellite to appear to be stationary with respect to the earth, the orbit must also be circular (constant altitude—22,-752 miles from the earth’s center) and equaltorial (in the plane of the earth’s equator). A single stationary satellite is visible to approximately a third of the earth’s surface) As the earth rotates, so does the satellite, always remaining in view of the same portion of the globe ”About the future, they say, ‘‘The Early Bird is the initial step in deploying a global commercial communications system In future systems, cities, remote areas, ships, aircraft,all will be in instant touch with‘‘Three satellites provideworld-wide coverage Early Bird's two-way live television transmissions have evidenced the potentialities of satellite communications in the exchange of ideas and knowledge across international boundaries For Early Bird, hovering motionless in the sky, there are no boundaries.”Map shows location of Hughes Aircraft Co. space facilitywlt;LAliviatlt;davuprisisuitersonsTheclamdav iritv f*an Ara ha iPrim.SA1ca n I arm ii
Newspaper Details
El Dorado Times
El Dorado, Arkansas, US
Tue, Sep 21, 1965
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Travis R.
AL, USA 16 Nov 2021
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