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Home My WebLink AboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1973-06-26, Page 19Stat on m - Id .in `T'ele3at C de'st base syst earth I► tib is �°Cated at Allan Pa k, hear novere , fl oat com nnieation Wowed in size an station;on Van-, , v r land. A► forst o f tele, comma cations can be paw'; betvrreen eaarth and satellite .by", way of ills H vy`Route antenna. Tei i nioati'onwtraffic`for the Canada 4 Broadcasting Cor- poration (distribution ofLthe CBC i national televisjoa network) is qtly'. -bant bsar by ,.t.. • Allan Park ,station, t t ,rilesthelyrainv nada ele ne sand s - TeiCeoMznu t- 'nicatiaos .( c► two-way telephone circuits hetween Vancouver and Toronto) ;Loft,. Bell •Canada,, Onedl sm densit and :toil! route telephone service. . south- ern. Canada, and the :Easter n A,rc-= �ticl, Future plans -2, n ude the, linking of:,the Canadian terminal': Of the Cantat 1,I 'Avila -Atlantic. cable near Halifax: with Central WE CALL; IT HOME ---The' etghtean ;rnitlion d, llair ��earfh '' station cot tpteX. at Allan Park:'may be right in the heart of the computer age but the Heavy Route antenna serves still another -purpose, a. home for. four starlings; The birds were diatoveredwhile a4our of the antenna was being conducted recesritl ' (Staff Photo) Canal. in 1 �.. A . wells the 'Heaver Reit antenna at SIS 13' the smaller 6 -font: "Telemetry,' TraelOg art Cornma. , Station "k (Tr # C). T . sstat'on is used to track Telessat's mac . Satellitim duringthe era After placing their final orb) monitors ems' terns. Comte orbit te... tent* in 1 Position, IT & C introls weir says - for minor orbi- tal, ma uVres are paad�tothe : y sote through;either the Heavy Route or the Telemetry, Trac `king, and Command antenna. Third Antenna, A third antenna with a 26 -foot - dish will 6-foot'dishwill be erected on the site the latter part of this year, Its. primary function will beto moni- tor oni for and, control Telesat's second. satellite;' Milk Ii Of the 37 station system. only' two sstations•'are staff ,attended,r Allan Park with approximately 30local residents employed4there full-time and the ,Lalte Cowichan Heavy Route .station, All other stations in the system, such as the One in Resolute' Bay and .the .. one in Watson ,lake, mon,, are 'designed , for Unattended opera- tion. ,Service Agree�. ants. Service °"agree.. ents : have re- cently been 'completed;, be .we 11, Cal'p ac"htton States: Ifowerrer, ,the -agreements," provide for the use of satellite channels only and the American p%mpanies will build and main- tain their own earth stations in the United. States. Agreements with thesecompanies are for in- terim Service until such time as the US. domestic satellite coin- munications system becomes operational. an ,area where there' is mini of radio fretpiole .+ e;, es ntial. for `sa' Ceiling stations. .'� of power ,aha station had a l ck-up tem V aca M mpg Prolongei supply', �/eiglas. , UUU,UUU +4MR'� measuring98 4`feet `in mil the +'Hear x Route antenna anted ' on a track 204)00lbsk Itis support by wh ls, tWo. of which, are' m J driven: " < antenna to. survive undo' d eat idi of `irnlias per Motu >'iars`tToUseStei Tolesat 'Canada is the world to rise the "Step i system, It folloii s the sa'teilil which the antenna 'is:auto>i cally locked, This a ttra-'- haa pa soint :t p size of +fly°d gra . V antenna. is in t f l -). tiesemc. In(average lint hTi a stn $ seg;u+curacyte, wa wires>iup t� 1 RELAY; TOWEIV he microwave relay tower at Allan Park's earth station is owned by Bel i Cariada. Al' at time earth station in Allan Park is the Telemetry, Tracking and Corn - and sfation me Allan ,Park complex is the largest in the base line system of 37 atift0011,own b►y i'elas at Canada. (Staff Photo) bn to ►'+ tiIs - ► � `° a nerdy to °piestnce a sated fo geostationary ' ox it 4�ncs the satellites al a placed`'the Control of the satellite can be sinei a lined via the Heavy Ronte ,antenna which has "command" fatmty. Control of the satellite i:'tnain- tained by way of the Satellite Control Centre in Ottawa. There is also a terrestrial system `,from Ottawa to Allan Park and. from Allan Park to the satellite. It is the extremely ,.accurate station keeping of the satellite (within less than plus .1 degrees) that allows Telesat 'to employ antennas in the balance of the do- mestic satellite system which do not require a steering capability. Station manager of the Allan Park operation is Frank Devlin of Hanover. Public relations officer for Telesat is Mike Steers and assistant' public relations officer is Dixie Lambert. Anik - Brother The name given to the, world's first domestic continunications satellites in synchronous orbit is, of course, Anik, the Eskimo word for brother. The name was chosen from a suggestion by Miss Julie -Frances Czapla of Montreal in a nationwide contest for a name for Telesat Canada's satel- lites. Telesat Canada is a commer- cial venture Unique in this country, because it is jointly owned by the Federal Govern- ment, the approved telecommu- nications common carriers and the public through the ownership' of shares. Telesat was incorpo- rated by an Act of Parliament in 1969 to establish and. operate a system of domestic Satellite com- munications In Canada. The Telesat ' communications system compriseS two identical satellites in space, one spare on the ground, and a baseline net- work of earth stations. Anik I, the first satellite, was successfully launched from. Cape Kennedy on November 9, 1972, and stationed at 114 degrees W longitude at the equator. On January 11, Telesat Canada began commercial serv- ice on Anik I with an inaugural telephone call .from Ottawa to Resolute Bay, above the Arctic Circle. A second satellite, Anik II, was launched in mid-April 'and posi- tioned five deg► east of Anik I at 109 degrees W longitude at the equator. • Sent byHughes The AniletatelliteS were built by Huger Raft' Company of CalifOrtlia in tenjuilaon with two Canadian sub -contractors, Northern E1 eeetrle and Spar Aero- space Produett, NOrthern Elec- n A`J + ether�e l ; t;r iihi tris manufactured the; spa' electronics while Spar mania f fc-. `tur+ed'the structure. Measuring about -six feet in dia- meter and eleven feet high, the satellite weighs about 1,250 pounds at launch and about' 600 pounds during the orbiting. The life expectancy of the batteries which power the satellites during eclipse periods, when they are -in shadow, is a minimum of seven years. Normally the electronics. system of the satellite is powered by 23,000solar cells. - NASA Anik II was launched from Cape Kennedy under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A thrust -augmented Thor -Delta launch vehicle was used. The three stage launch vehicle had nine solid booster rOckets attached to the first stage to give extra power at lift-off from the launch pad. It took ap- proximately 26 minutes for the three stages to burn and separate from the spacecraft. NASA's re- sponsibility ended when the • cecraft was placed in a trans- forbit. The spacecraft coasted until its on -board motor was fired •on command from Telesat's Con - lid Centre in the Corporation's Ottawa headquarters. This firing was scheduled to occur as the Satellite reached its seventh apogee (point in orbit of moon or any planet, farthest from earth). This was reached about 70 hours after launch. The Anik satellites are known as "synchronous" or "geosta- tionary". Their orbits, at an alti- tude of 22,300 miles in the plane of the equator, coincide exactly with the speed of rotation of the earth. The satellite moves in its orbit as the earth rotates on its Vis, thereby making it appear stationary above any given point in Canada. The prime advantages of satel- lite communications become mammoth in size when it is con- sidered that the conventional means of communication such as Wire, cable or microwave relay chains become increasingly un- economical in northern latitudes where,radio communications are frequently and unpredictably in- terferred with, Giant Tower the mmunications satellite Could be thought of as a unique, tall microwave tower; one that in fact, 22,300 miles high. In one glance it `views all of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific and tram the United States in the Shu* to the Arctic Ocean in the mirth. The satellite antenna's • cot►eTBge root restri(;`ted to tfie ' m le range of convedel nal. microwave ,towerss:,a The .earth stations are capable, of receiving signals passing through the satellite The horizon, includes almost all of the 3.9 mil- lion square miles of . Canada, in the,�caseof Telesat Canada's Anik satellites. Each satellite is capable of carrying 12 sianultaneous color television programs, or up1a to 5,500 simultaneous telephone cir- cuits. Ten channels; are made available in each satellite for commercial use while two are being held as back-up protection. Amid this circus -lice excite- ment about outer space and moon landings and .satellite communi- cations, many of us have forgot- ten that it has been only 16 years since man's space probe first be- gan with Sputnik being hurled into the outer limits in 1957, Split- nik was not much bigger than an overgrown basketball, but, in just the time it took a child' born in 1957 to grow old enough to obtain a driver's license, the earth "has established the license to plant flags on the moon and even per- form breakdown repair jobs as in the case of Skylab. The apace world isno longer material for a science fiction novel. It is a reality because men's eyes have seen it. Our mis- understanding of this conquering of space and its technological complexities may R not be thorough enough, but, we know the moon is not made of green cheese and we know that Telesat Canada is putting Canada on the map as far as satellite communi- cations are concerned. OAC Farm and Home Week '73 To be held on July 10th, lith and 12th at the Elora Research Station from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. —July 10th; Official opening Beef Cattle Research Centre. Crops and soils tours. —July 11th: Dairy .Cattle Re- search Centre open house. Crops and soils tours. —July 12th: College of Family and Consumer Studies Program, on Guelph campus. —Free buses from Elora Re- search Station. Crops and Mils tours. BLASTOFF—Anik 1 takes to the sky from its launching pad at Cape Kennedy. The Anik satellites are the world's first domestic communications .satellites in synchronous orbit. Anik Is the Eskimo word for brother. The name was chosen from a suggestion by Miss Julie -Frances Czapla of Mont- real in a nationwide contest to choose a name for Telesat Canada's satellites.