#syncom

[iriswbp]

leasat-2

yeah, thats it. thats the whole post ❤️

[centralbunnyunit]

[therealuniverse]

THE LAST PICTURES - A SPACE-BOUND PORTRAIT OF HUMANITY Since NASA's 1963 launch of "Syncom 2," the first geosynchronous communications satellite, humans have been slowly constructing a ring around our home planet. Unlike the dust and ice around Saturn, our ring consists of machines. Of more than 800 geosynchronous satellites that have been launched, many have been neglected or powered down once their purpose was served. Because of their altitude of 36,000 km, they will remain locked in orbit around the Earth until the Sun reaches its red giant stage and engulfs our home planet some 4.5 billion years from now. Artist and geographer Trevor Paglen believes these dead spacecraft to be humanity's most enduring artifact.

Commissioned by the art organization Creative Time, Paglen spent five years interviewing scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers in order to find the answer to a difficult question: how can we leave behind an abiding representation of our experience as human beings? Paglen's project, known as "The Last Pictures," is an ultra-archival silicon disc encased in a gold-plated shell designed by materials scientists at MIT and Carleton College. The disc is micro-etched with a set of one hundred pictures carefully chosen by Paglen and his research team in an attempt to encapsulate the human experience. The disc is attached to the Echostar XVI satellite, which was launched on the 20th of November, 2012. The curators of this project faced the formidable task of choosing a small handful of photographs to define our fluid nature. The images cover a wide range of subjects: "Earthrise," pictured here; children suffering from the effects of Agent Orange; photos of cave paintings at Lascaux, France; equipment used in the construction of the atomic bomb; and comparison shots of melting glaciers. The meaning and intent behind these images, much like those behind the cave paintings included in the archive, will be obscured by the passage of time. They represent an attempt by a finite and ephemeral collective consciousness to make its mark across billions of years, without knowing how potential future observers will interpret them without context. The archive serves as a philosophical attempt to understand ourselves and our development as a species, but also is intended as a statement for the future. These images serve as a sort of "message in a bottle" set adrift in the sea of deep time. Paradoxically, what acts as a meditation on the fleeting nature of the present moment is also an endeavor to preserve it long after it is gone. -RLO Sources: http://creativetime.org/projects/the-last-pictures/ http://www.paglen.com/?l=work&s=lastpictures&i=11 Image credit: "Earthrise," NASA/William Anders tagTag PhotopinAdd LocationpencilEdit

[9to5buzzcom]

On Jul 26, 1963, Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous communications satellite is launched.

[gameraboy2]

Syncom Floppy Disks, 1982 ad

[periodically80s]

[fandomate]

Syncom 2  - the 1st geosynchronous satellite, 1963

[latimes]

Celebrating Syncom: The pioneering communications satellite

Its name may not be as familiar as Sputnik's, but that doesn't mean the Syncom communications satellite deserve no celebrations on its 50th anniversary.

In fact, it was Sputnik that inspired one of Syncom's creators, Harold Rosen, in the first place. Rosen, then a student at Caltech, watched the Soviet satellite streaking across the sky as he brainstormed:

What he imagined by 1959 was a revolution in communications: an extremely lightweight, solar-powered telephone switching station in orbit 22,000 miles above Earth. In those days, an international telephone connection required making a reservation because the existing system — copper cables and radio signals — carried few calls. Many countries could not be called at all. A satellite could change all of that.

Just think - without the successful launch of Syncom on July 26, 1963, the quick rise of international television signals, electronic credit card authorizations and countless other innovations would be completely different.

And what once was a single 78-pound satellite has turned into more than 500 descendants currently orbiting the Earth, some of which weigh more than 13,000 pounds.

Read more on Syncom's history our latest Column One story, 

Photos: Ricardo DeAratanha, Armand Emamdjomeh / Los Angeles Times, Boeing