INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM TELESAT: THE CANADIAN DOMESTIC COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE SYSTEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001700030084-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
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• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2002
• Sequence Number: 84
• Publication Date: May 5, 1998
• Content Type: IM

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Confidential
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Memorandum
Telesat: The Canadian Domestic Communications Satellite System
Confidential
ER IM 72-84
May 1972
Copy No.
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WARNING
This document contains information affecting the national
defense of the United States, within the meaning of Title
18, sections 793 and 794, of the US Code, as amended.
Its transmission or revelation of its contents to or re-
ceipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
May 1971
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
TELESAT: THE CANADIAN DOMESTIC
COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE SYSTEM
1. Canada is the first country in the world to establish a national
communications satellite (comsat) system based on the use of geostationary
satellites.(1) At present the Canadian telecommunications networi. consists
primarily of microwave radio relay lines supplemented by tropospheric
scatter links and open wirelines. The existing systems provide adequate
telecommunications services to the more heavily populated areas in the
south but are nc' adequate for northern Canada, where many small
communities are widely scattered throughout the vast and hostile terrain.
The Canadians are convinced that, in this type of environment, a comsat
system will provide the full range of telecommunications services (television,
telephone, telegraph, data, and facsimile) more economically than would
the construction of thousands of miles of conventional terrestrial media,
such as microwave radio relay and cable.
2. This memorandum outlines the major operating and geographical
characteristics of the Canadian national comsat network, compares the
Canadian system with the domestic comsat network operating in the USSR,
and briefly addresses the question of compatibility between Canada's
domestic comsat plans and the operations of the International
Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat).
1. Geostationary satellites are positioned over the equator in orbits synchronized to
the speed of the earth's rotation and thus appear to be "stationary" in relation to
a fixed point on earth. The USSR has been operating c national comsat system since
1967 using satellites inserted into highly elliptical orbits.
Note: This memorandum was prepared by the Office of Economic Research
and coordinated within CIA.
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Background
3. To establish a domestic comsat system, the Canadian Parliament
created the Canadian Satellite Corporation (Telesat), which came into
existence on 1 Septe,nber 1969 as a mixed corporation owned
approximately equally by the government, 13 common carriers, and the
public. Telesat was authorized to provide satellite communications
commercially throughout Canada and was assigned responsibility for the
design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the system.
4. Canada had taken initial steps toward a domestic satellite system
in 1968 when the government had system design studies prepared by two
consortiums. After the design proposals stage, RCA Victor of Canada was
designated prime contractor for the project definition phase and appeared
to be the company that would build the satellites.. In April 1970, however,
Hughes Aircraft Company -- builder of the Intelsat I, II, and IV satellites -
submitted an unsolicited bid less than half that of RCA for a satellite having
twice the channel capacity. In August 1970, Hughes was awarded a $31
million prime contract to build three comsats for Telesat. Two Canadian
firms -- Northern Electric Company and Spar Aerospace Products Ltd. -
are the major subcontractors.
5. Progress on the earth segment of the system began in July 1970,
when Telesat sent requests for bids to 18 companies, ten of which
responded. After reviewing the bids, Telesat in June 1971 awarded prime
contracts totaling $16 million to three firms: RCA Victor of Canada
($11 million), Raytheon of Canada ($3.2 million), and Philco-Ford of
Canada ($1.8 million). The RCA and Raytheon contracts require that 66%
of the work be done by Canadian firms, while Philco-Ford's contract
stipulates only 33% Canadian participation.
Characte;istics of the System
Space Segment
6. The three satellites forming the space segment of the Telesat
system are designed for a useful active lifetime of seven years. Two of
them will be -launched and placed in geostationary orbits, but. only one
will be active while the other will be an in-orbit spare. The third satellite
will be an on-the-ground spare. Each satellite, with 12 radio frequency
carriers ' (or transponders), will be capable of relaying either 12 television
programs or 11,520 telephone channels. The satellite will be 12 feet in
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length and 6 feet in diameter and will weigh approximately 1,200 pounds
at launch. Because it is being equipped with a transmitting antenna designed
for relatively narrow beam width, its coverage of the earth's surface will
be effectively limited to Canada.
7. Delivery of the first satellite to Telesat is scheduled for October
1972 with the others to be delivered at four-month intervals thereafter.
Under agreements reached with the United States, the satellites will be
launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
with thrust-augmented Thor-Delta rockets at a cost (to be paid by Telesat)
of approximately $7 million each. Launching of the first satellite is
scheduled for November 1972 and, following sucessful checkout tests,
Telesa expects the Canadian domestic communications satellite system to
become operational by the end of this year. Launching of the second
satellite is planned for February 1973.
Earth Segment
8. The ground segr.,ent of the Canadian comsat system will consist
of about 35 earth stations of four different types(2) (see the map). Two
types will be designed to transmit and receive both television and message
(telephone, telegraph, and data) traffic. With the exception of one station,
the other two types will be configured for television reception only. The
two categories of earth stations designed to provide the full range of
communications services have been designated, respectively, the Heavy
Route and the Northern Telecommunications stations. The Heavy Route
stations will be located near Victoria at Lake Cowichan, British Columbia,
and near Toronto at Allan Park, Ontario. Similar to standard Intelsat earth
stations, they will have 95-foot parabolic dish antennas and will be capable
of transmitting and receiving television and several hundred channels of
message traffic. The much smaller Northern Telecommunications stations
will have 30-foot parabolic dish antennas end will be capable of handling
television and a relatively small number of channels of message traffic.
Initially, there will be two Northern Telecommunications stations - one
at Frobisher Bay and one at Resolute in the Northwest Territories.
9. The two types of earth stations designed for television reception
only are known, respectively, as the Network Television and the Remote
Television stations. The Network Television stations will have 40-foot
parabolic dish antennas and will be located in six cities: Edmonton, Regina,
Winnipeg, Haiitax, Montreal, and St. John's. The only one of these stations
to be configured at the outset for anything other than television reception
is the Montreal station, which will be used to transmit French-language
television programs to the rest of Canada. The Remote Television stations
will have 25-foot parabolic dish antennas and will be located in 25 small
2. Not including a telemetry, tracking, and control station to be located at Allan
Park, Ontario.
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Canada: Earth Stations of the Domestic Communications Satellite System
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communities of northern Canada. Compared with an estimated cost of
$3 million-$5 million for each Heavy Route station, the cost of the Remote
Television station will be about $130,000 per unit.
10. Design and locational factors indicate that the quality and
reliability of reception will be better t the Network Television than at
the Remote Television earth stations. On the other hand, the Remote
Television stations, unlike the Network Television stations, will be
unattended and thus should have very low operating costs. Both of these
receive-only types of television stations could subsequently be modified to
transmit and receive both television and communications traffic.
Comparison of Canadian and Soviet Domestic Satellite Systems
11. The Soviet Union and Canada share many similar geographic
features that make a domestic comsat system highly desirable. Both
countries have a number of lightly populated but important settlement^
in the northern latitudes that are separated by vast reaches of difficult
terrain. This makes the establishment of conventional means of
telecommunications, such as a microwave radio relay and cable links, a
prohibitively expensive and time-consuming process. Unlike terrestrial
media, the cost of installing a comsat system does not rise proportionately
with increasing distance between terminals, nor does the construction of
an earth station network involve the arduous traversing of thousands of
miles of hostile terrain.
Satellite Differences
12. Despite their geographic: similarities, Canada and the USSR have
chosen comsat systems with considerably different characteristics. In
contrast to the geostationary orbit chosen by Telesat, the Soviet Molniya
satellites are injected into highly elliptical orbits, in which apogee is reached
over the Northern Hemisphere and which provide 8-10 hours of coverage
of the USSR every other orbit.(3) For the USSR, an elliptical orbit has
several advantages over a geostationary orbit. First, a comsat in elliptical
orbit with a Northern Hemisphere apogee can provide more comprehensive
coverage of the Soviet land mass, especially the Arctic regions, than one
in geostationary orbit.(4) Second, because the USSR is situated so far north
3. On alternate orbits, the Molniya satellites reach apogee over Canada.
4. At and near apogee, one Molniya comsat in elliptical orbit can cover all of the
USSR. Because of the breadth of the northern USSR, two gecstationary comsats would
be necessary to provide 4amparable coverage.
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of the equator, it is technically easier for Soviet space launching sites to
place a satellite into an elliptical rather than into a geostationary (equatorial
synchronous) orbit.(5) Finally, with any given launch vehicle, a heavier
payload can be placed into an elliptical orbit. Since a heavier satellite permits
more onboard transmitting power, smaller and less expensive earth stations
can be used.
13. Canada, on the other hand, with much less territory than the
USSR, could obtain satisfactory coverage with a geostationary satellite, even
for its northernmost earth stations. (The earth station planned by Canada
for Resolute at 75? north latitude will be farther north than any Soviet
station, but the Canadians do not anticipate any reception problems.) In
addition, the difficulties posed for the USSR in placing satellites into
geostationary orbit will not be encountered by Canada, owing to US
agreement to launch the Canadian satellites from Cape Kennedy.
14. Geostationary comsats offer Canada several technical and
economic advantages over elliptically orbiting comsats. Only one
gecstationary comsat is required to provide 24-hour coverage of Canada,
whereas at least two satellites would be needed for round-the-clock coverage
if an elliptical orbit were used. Since geostationary comsats remain "fixed"
in space relative to the earth, they are easy to track and require only one
antenna at the earth stations to maintain continuous 24-hour
communications. In contrast, comsats in elliptical orbits must be tracked
from horizon to horizon, and for continuous coverage their earth stations
require two antennas to accomplish "handover" as one satellite passes out
of view and another comes into view. Moreover, comsats in geostationary
orbit do not pass through the Van Allen radiation belt, as do elliptically
orbiting comsats, and therefore do not require radiation shielding, w ich
would increase both the weight and complexity of the payload. It is bf?lieved
that the repeated crossing of the Van Allen radiation belt by the Molniya
satellites causes a deterioration in their solar cells and electronics system,
contributing to the satellites' short operational lifetimes.
15. Important differences also exist between the Canadian and Soviet
satellites in channel capacities and expected lifetimes. The Molniya-l
satellites used in the Soviet system have had a standard operating capacity
of relaying either one television channel or 60 telephone channels, whereas
the Canadian satellites will be capable of handling either 12 television
channels or 11,520 telephone channels, or a lesser number of both in
5. As one moves away from the equator, the launching of satellites into geostationary
orbit requires progressively more powerful launch vehicles and technically more
cc.mplicated guidance and control maneuvers.
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combination.t6> Also, the useful lifetime of Canada's comsats -- designed
for seven years - is likely to exceed considerably those in the Soviet system,
which currently have an average useful lifetime of about two years.
Earth Segment Comparisons
16. Both the Canadian and Soviet domestic comsat systems are heavily
oriented toward television distribution. In the Canadian system, all 35 earth
stations will be able to receive television signals from the satellites, and
all but five will be receive-only television stations. In the USSR, 38 of
the 40 earth stations currently operating in the domestic comsat system
are receive-only television stations.
17. Despite generally similar system objectives, the Canadian earth
station network will be somewhat more diversified than that in the USSR.
As noted above, Canada will have four different'y configured types of earth
stations, while the Soviet system features only two types: the Molniya
stations (located at Moscow and Vladivostok), which are capable of
transmitting and receiving both television and multichannel communications,
and the Orbita stations, capable of television reception only.
18. Canada's Remote Television earth stations will be very similar to
the Soviet Orbita stations in that they will be used only for television
reception, will be the most numerous stations in the system, and will provide
service to the country's more isolated communities. Unlike the Orbita
stations, which require a permanent operations crew, the Canadian Remote
Television stations will operate unmanned. Canada's six Network Television
earth stations, like the Orbita stations, will be manned, receive-only facilities
but will be located exclusively in regional population centers. The two
Northern Telecommunications stations at Frobisher Bay and Resolute will
also be similar to the Soviet Orbita facilities in terms of antenna size, but
they will be configured to transmit and receive a few channels of telephone
and telegraph traffic in addition to receiving television.
19. The two Canadian Heavy Route stations near Toronto and
Victoria, British Columbia, will be roughly analogous to the two Soviet
Molniya stations at Moscow and Vladivostok. In each case, the stations
form transcontinental links between a major city in the interior and the
country's principal city on the Pacific. Like the Molniya facilities, the Heavy
Route stations will provide two-way television and multi-channel
communications service, supplementing the existing terrestrial facilities.
6. In November 1971 the USSR successfully orbited the first of its Molniya-2
(second-generation) comsats. Molniya-2 has substantially more advanced capabilities than
Molniya-1, but accurate estimates of these capabilities are not yet possible. The Molniya-2
satellites, however, probably will not be as advanced as those being built for Telesat.
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Telesat and Intelsat
20. As a sovereign state, Canada requires no outside approval to
establish and operate a domestic comsat system. Although not specifically
obligated under the present Intelsat interim arrangements to do so, Canada
has conferred with Intelsat to ensure technical compatibility of the two
systems, especially with respect to the use of the radio frequency spectrum
and orbital space. Although Canada's comsats will be using the same
frequencies as Intelsat, they will be sufficiently separated' in space from
Intelsat's to preclude any mutual interference. The Canadian system should
be economically as well as technically compatible with Intelsat because it
is designed to handle domestic traffic, whereas Intelsat is for international
communications. To the degree that Canadian telecommunications as a
whole are stimulated by the availability of this new network, Telsat may
in fact contribute to an increase in Intelsat traffic.
21. Telesat will give a substantial boost to the Canadian national
telecommunications system. The two dozen or so Remote Television stations
will greatly expand reception coverage in Canada's more .thinly populated
areas. Telesat will also make possible for the first time distribution of
French-language television programs on a national scale. Apart from
television, the new comsat network will permit a major expansion of
transcontinental multichannel ci mmunications between two major cities,
Toronto and Vancouver, and will extend high-quality telephone and
telegraph links to two of Canada's important but more isolated communities,
Resolute and Frobisher Bay. In the future, the Telesat system will be further
expanded and upgraded by constructing receive-only television stations in
more of Canada's smaller settlements and by adding two-way telephone
and telegraph capabilities to some of the stations originally configures for
television reception only.
'22. Telesat's operation will be followed with interest by many
countries because it is the first of several national and regional comsat
systems planned for deployment in the coming years. The developed
countries will be observing Telsat closely for ideas that will prove useful
in establishing their own systems. The less developed countries will be
especially interested in Canada's unmanned and relatively inexpensive
receive-only television stations as models that could be used in educational
television systems several of them ar_- planning to build.
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