meters) away in space. Retro-rocket separation had left lead deposits on the antennas, cutting into performance. Rosen was asked to help troubleshoot. He determined that the satellites could be positioned in ways that the sun’s intensity would boil off the lead residue. It was a delicate operation, needing to be done just right so as not to hamper the satellite’s antenna reflector. It was a clever solution. “He always has these great concepts,” said Craig Cooning, president of Boeing Network & Space Systems, “to provide that creative spark to our engineers. He doesn’t complicate things.” A prodigy at a young age, Rosen graduated from high school in New Orleans when he was 15 and worked on top-secret radar and sonar systems as a naval electronics technician at 18. He developed an interest in space technology and exploration as a graduate student while pursuing master’s and doctorate degrees at the California Institute of Technology. His education and military background took him to Raytheon, where he developed early anti-aircraft guided missiles, and then for Hughes, where he helped launch the world’s largest communications satellite AUGUST 2015 49 A higher orbit Satellite designer Harold Rosen had an idea for global communication and changed the world by dan raley As Boeing approaches the start of its second century in July 2016, Frontiers takes a look at some of the men and women who helped make Boeing a global leader in aerospace. This series highlights the innovation, skill and courage needed when daring to do the impossible. Harold Rosen was told that his newly designed geostationary satellite wouldn’t work. Other scientists called it onerous, impractical and unreliable. And for a short time they were right. Syncom I was lost during launch in 1963. Rosen, however, was determined to respond to the Soviet Union and its first-in-space Sputnik satellite, to make inroads, to quell his critics. Working for Boeing heritage company Hughes Aircraft, he and his team changed the motor, wiring and nitrogen-tank pressure. Five months following that initial setback, Syncom II was put into orbit and worked perfectly. This enabled President John F. Kennedy to call Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Balewa from the White House, marking the first twoway satellite telephone call between heads of state. And with Syncom II and newly launched Syncom III linking up, the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo were broadcast on TV live to the United States in black and white. Rosen brought the world closer together. Cellular phones, emails and unlimited cable TV channels all were eventual benefits of his vision for communications satellites in geostationary orbits, where they remain at fixed points above Earth. Global communications would never be the same again. “One of the reasons I was interested in communications for application to space was the sad state of longdistance communications at the time,” Rosen recalled in an interview. “Telephone service between the U.S. and Europe was expensive and hard to come by; you had to basically put in a reservation just to put in a telephone call. Transoceanic TV was impossible. “There was a lot to be gained by having a satellite system—I still believe this has been the single most important service provided by space.” Rosen, who lives in Pacific Palisades, Calif., with his wife, still drops by his office at Boeing’s satellite factory in nearby El Segundo, where Hughes Aircraft, the company founded by Howard Hughes, once made its satellites. Rosen went to work at Hughes in 1956. As Boeing prepares to celebrate its centennial, Rosen is among the many men and women who have made milestone contributions to Boeing and its heritage companies. More than five decades after his initial success, the man known as the father of the geostationary satellite still holds considerable influence in his industry. And he lends his expertise to problemsolving on occasion. A few years ago, two Boeing-built satellites weren’t functioning properly as they orbited 23,000 miles (37,000 kiloPhotos: (Far left) Harold Rosen, right, with scientist Thomas Hudspeth and the Syncom prototype at the top of the Eiffel Tower during the Paris Air Show in 1961. Boeing Archives (Below) Harold Rosen still lends his expertise to the satellite industry and recently helped solve an antenna interference issue. paul pinner | boeing
Frontiers August 2015 Issue
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