Launched on November 9, 1972 at 20:14 EST, Anik 1 was the first national domestic telecommunications satellite in geostationary orbit. While telecommunications satellites had been in geostationary orbit since 1963 with Syncom 2, they had been used for transcontinental communications. The launch of Anik 1 allowed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to reach the Canadian North for the first time.
Anik 1 was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company based out of California (now Boeing), on the HS-333 satellite bus, and carried twelve C-band radio transponders which allowed for a capacity of twelve colour television channels. A spin stabilized platform, Anik 1 was cylindrical with body mounted solar cells generating 300 W of electrical power, and 7 W of transmit power.
The decision by Telesat to have the Hughes Aircraft Company build Anik 1 was controversial, as Telesat had previously indicated that the satellite would be built in Canada. Hughes selected SPAR Aerospace out of Toronto, for the construction of the satellite structure and Northern Electric (later Nortel) manufactured the communications electronics payload; a contract structure which was similar for the manufacture of other HS-333 satellites which were purchased in the future.
Anik 1 was the first of the Anik series of telecommunications satellites operated by Telesat, and the modern domestic use of communications satellites can be traced back to it. The Anik series of satellites overtime has grown to include sixteen different satellites, with an on-orbit lifetime in excess of ten years. The Anik series of satellite are no longer based on the HS-333 bus, and have evolved over time.
The records in this collection include some drawings from the Hughes Aircraft Company which shows the structural design of the HS-333 spacecraft bus as well as drawings from SPAR Aerospace which detail the design of different pieces of ground handling equipment.
Specifications:
Height- 3.4 m
Diameter- 1.78 m
Mass- 560 kg
COSPAR Id- 1972-090A
Period- 1457.05 min
Apogee- 36261.00 km
Perigee- 36131.00 km
Inclination- 14.03°
Eccentricity- 0.00
Launched- 1972-11-09 at 20:14 EST
Launch Vehicle- Delta 1914
Launch Site- Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Lost- 1982-07-15
