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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

This book describes the first attempts to go beyond the ionosphere, including both the earliest uses of the Moon as a passive, natural relay satellite and project Echo, the massive inflated satellite off which Earth stations bounced radio signals, as well as contemporary communications via active-repeater artificial moons in orbit about the Earth. It collects papers, with some additions, originally presented during an international symposium held in Washington, D.C., in 1995. Contributions from historians and other scholars from throughout the world present a stimulating analysis of one of the most important global technologies at work today, and how it originated and evolved.

(Extracted from the press release)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-Acknowledgements.

-Introduction.

-Part I: Passive Origins.

-Radio Versus Cable: International Telecommunications Before Satellites.
-Moon in Their Eyes: Moon Communication Relay at the Naval Research Laboratory, 1951-1962.
-Moon Relay Experiments at Jodrell Bank.

-Part II: Creating the Global, Regional, and National Systems.

-Something of Value: Echo and the Beginnings of Satellite Communications.
-Project Echo, Goldstone, and Holmdel: Satellite Communications as Viewed From the Ground Station.
-NASA Experimental Communications Satellites.
-From Advent to Milstar: The US Air Force and the Challenges of Military Satellite Communications.
-Thirty Years of Space Communications Research and Development at Lincoln Laboratory.
-Billion Dollar Technology: A Short Historical Overview of the Origins of Communications Satellite Technology, 1945-1965.
-Launching the European Telecommunications Satellite Program.
-US-European Relations and the Decision to Build Ariane, the European Launch Vehicle.
-The Formulation of British and European Policy Toward an International Satellite Communications System: The Role of the British Foreign Office.
-Originating Communications Satellite Systems: The Interactions of Technological Change, Domestic Politics, and Foreign Policy.

-Part III: The Unfolding of the World System.

-The Pursuit of Equality: The Role of the Ionosphere and Satellite Communications in Canadian Development.
-The Long March to Space: Satellite Communications in China.
-No Free Launch: Designing the Indian National Satellite.
-Footprints to the Future, Shadows of the Past: Toward a History of Communications Satellites in Asia.
-From Shortwave and Scatter to Satellite: Cuba's International Communications.
-The Recent History of Satellite Communications in Cuba.
-Project SHARE and the Development of Global Satellite Communication.
-The Evolution of Mobile Satellite Communications.
-Net Gain: The USe of Satellites at MCI.

-Appendix A: For Further Reading.

-Appendix B: Timeline of Selected Events in the Development of Satellite Communications.

-About the Authors.

-Glossary of Acronyms.

-Index.

-The NASA History Series.

OUR REVIEW

Beyond the Ionosphere is another splendid bibliographical contribution of the History Office of the NASA, in this occasion devoted to the communications via satellite. The book contains a series of papers by different authors that describe us in full detail which the prehistory of this so successful astronautic application is, the first space programs, both in the United States and in other countries, the era of maturity of the communication systems, etc.

Both civilian and military aspects are covered in this work, leaving apart those of a more technical character. Like in every other work of a historical nature, the texts are accompanied by numerous references, bibliography, glossary  of terms, and even a chronology on the matter.