Project Echo / NASA
Project Echo / NASA
(August 1960)
Project Echo was launched. Echo originally started as a 30 inch balloon
for the payload of Vanguard to observe
atmospheric drag once released
into the atmosphere.
Engineers realized that a bigger balloon (100 foot)
would provide more opportunities to conduct experiments.
A 26 meter
antenna (later named Echo) was built in Goldstone, California several
miles from the Pioneer antenna
to transmit voice communication. The Echo
antenna included a transmitter operating at S-band (2.39 GHz), which
was very sophisticated for the time. Another antenna was built in
Holmdel, New Jersey to receive transmissions.
Once the balloon was
launched into orbit, a prerecorded message from President Dwight
Eisenhower was
transmitted from California and heard with clarity in New
Jersey.
Project Echo was launched. Echo originally started as a 30 inch balloon for the payload of Vanguard to observe
atmospheric drag once released into the atmosphere.
Engineers realized that a bigger balloon (100 foot) would provide more opportunities to conduct experiments.
A 26 meter antenna (later named Echo) was built in Goldstone, California several miles from the Pioneer antenna
to transmit voice communication. The Echo antenna included a transmitter operating at S-band (2.39 GHz), which
was very sophisticated for the time. Another antenna was built in Holmdel, New Jersey to receive transmissions.
Once the balloon was launched into orbit, a prerecorded message from President Dwight Eisenhower was
transmitted from California and heard with clarity in New Jersey.
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Above: ECHO-Prototype.
Above: Project ECHO.
Echo-1 Communications Satellite - Decades TV Network
Echo II Satelloon Inflation, 1964
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ECHO II:
ECHO II:
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Above: ECHO II balloon inspection.
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