Science and Future Technology

] History of satellite Internet Following the launch of the first satellite,   Sputnik 1 , by the Soviet Union in October, 1957, the US successfully launched the   Explorer 1 satellite in 1958. The first commercial communications satellite was   Telstar 1 , built by   Bell Labs   and launched in July, 1962. The idea of a geostationary satellite — one that could orbit the Earth above the equator and remain fixed by following the Earth’s rotation — was first proposed by science fiction writer   Arthur C. Clarke   in 1945. The first satellite to successfully reach geostationary orbit was Syncom3 , built by   Hughes Aircraft   for NASA and launched Aug. 19, 1963. Many improvements and modifications followed, and after the invention of the   Internet   and the World Wide Web, geostationary satellites were looked at as an alternate means of providing Internet service. Part of the story involves the opening up of the   K a  band   for satellites. In December, 1993, Hughes Aircraft fil