What Went Wrong With Telstar I
During Telstar I’s first two months in orbit, the only indication of trouble cropped up in one of the command operations. Telemetry told us that the satellite was no longer executing the T2 command. This meant that we could not temporarily disconnect command chain No. 1 to check the performance of chain No. 2. Then, a short while later, No. 2 began to give intermittent operation. Finally it failed completely. At the time, we didn’t know why this had happened, but, since the satellite’s other command chain still seemed to be operating normally, we were not very worried.
However, in the middle of November 1962 command chain No. 1 also began to be intermittent. We would send a command but get no response from the satellite; only after we repeated it a few times would the satellite finally do what it had been told to do. Now there was something to be concerned about. And, if chain No. 1 should fail, we had to make sure that Telstar would be left in a favorable operating condition. We didn’t want the satellite’s communications equipment to be left on without our being able to turn it off—this would keep a continuous drain on the power supply.
As we feared it would, the other command circuit went out of commission on November 23rd. However, when this happened, the communications circuits had been turned off, although the command chains themselves and the telemetry remained on. This meant that we could still try to send commands, the condition of the satellite could still be monitored by telemetry, and the solar cells could still supply useful power. But, since we could not turn the communications equipment on, Telstar I could no longer be used for transatlantic television or any of the experiments we had been carrying on successfully since July.