Remembering Echo: The Inflatable Satellite
As we approach the age of the inflatable space hotel, we should remember the inflatable satellite (some called it a “satelloon”), Echo.
A Passive Communications Satellite
Echo was a giant inflatable mylar balloon, designed to work as a passive communications satellite. Signals from earth could be bounced off Echo, and picked up elsewhere. It re-directed telephone, radio and television signals.
You Could See It
With a diameter of 100 feet, and a very shiny surface, Echo circled the earth in a low orbit—and was visible to the naked eye. In fact, it was brighter than most stars, and at that time was probably the most viewed man-made object in space.
The first Echo satellite failed to reach orbit, but the second—called Echo 1a, but usually still known as Echo 1—launched in August 1960. A larger smaller Echo satellite, the Echo 2, was launched in January 1964. Both burned up in re-rentry in the late 1960s.
