In 1957, the United States was facing a problem. The Russians
had successfully launched Sputnik and effectively beat them into
space. As a result, Harold Rosen, an engineer at Hughes Aircraft
Company, found himself heading in a completely new direction
from the airborne radar project on which he was working. The
need to develop global communications was clear. Global
telephone calls were expensive, relying on cables to transmit
signals, and global television transmission was nonexistent.
Technology available at the time provided limited international
communication with the use of numerous aluminum-coated balloons
in a low-orbit above the Earth. Given the demand for better
international communication and new opportunities in aerospace,
Harold Rosen began to pursue work on a new communications
satellite. Rosen knew that to provide consistent 24-hour
communication, he would need to develop an active communications
satellite that remained in orbit with the Earth. To do this
required a simple and lightweight desig