Rising to the Peak

Abstract

The late 1960s through the 1970s saw Comsat complete the task of building the “single global system” of satellite communications. It also saw Comsat’s loss of the manager function at Intelsat. Revenue rose steadily through 1978 and then seemed to boom as COMSTAR (see Chapter 7) and MARISAT (see Chapter 5) came online. Intelsat satellites had grown from 45 Watts and two 25 MHz transponders per satellite to 590 Watts and twenty 36 MHz transponders. Capacity had grown from 240 voice circuits to 15,000—per satellite. EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) had grown from 10 dBW to 29 dBW—almost a factor of 100. Net income (profit) had a peak in 1975 and then declined—at least temporarily—due to rate of return regulation. During this period man first landed on the Moon and then left the Moon, not to return for half a century or more. The Vietnam War entered its long denouement. Nixon was impeached, stagflation was rampant, and the counter-culture rose and fell.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens