1976

Canada's satellite heritage

The reputation of Canada's aerospace engineers and scientists has been solidly reinforced throughout the world by the existence of eight Canadian satellites - five for research and three for commercial communications.

Canada's satellite program of ionospheric research started in 1962 with the launch of Alouette I. By 1971 with the launch of ISIS II, four satellites designed and built by private enterprise and by the Canadian government had been placed in orbit. The exceptional efficiency of these satellites has enabled collection of a very large amount of data on the ionos­phere.

The year 1972 marked the start of a new era: that of domestic communications satellites. By putting Anik I into orbit, Telesat Canada provided this country with the first national telecommunications system set up by means of a geostation­ary satellite. The following year, Anik II went up to accompany its twin.

And in 1975 came the family's youngest: Anik III.

Launch dates of Canadian satellites were as follows:

Alouette I ........... September 29, 1962

Alouette II ........... November 29, 1965

ISIS I ..................... January 28, 1969

ISIS II ........................ March 31, 1971

Anik I ..................... November 9, 1972

Anik II ........................... April 20, 1973

Anik III ............................ May 7, 1975

CTS ........................ January 17, 1976