Design Considerations for Space Communication

With the advent of Russian and American artificial earth satellites, the use of such vehicles for communication purposes has been the subject of considerable study both by military and commercial organizations in the communications field. The purpose of this paper is to delineate the problems involved in space communication, the assumptions that must be made and the technical limitations which determine the communication system that should be used for a particular time frame. Some characteristics for an optimum system are stated. Some technical characteristics of the first successful satellite communication system are given.