Word: signaler
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Except for peeks at the optical display and conversation with the ground, the pilot will have little to do in his orbit around the earth. An automatic attitude sensor will operate the gas jets that keep the capsule from rolling. Then, at a signal from the ground or from the pilot himself, the jets will somersault the capsule, turn it so that its retrorockets can fire and slow its speed...
Most exotic cargo aboard the Atlas are two recorder-transmitters. Carried in a special pod on the rocket's side, the instruments weigh an estimated 100 lbs. each, are capable of receiving, recording, and rebroadcasting messages on signal from the ground. President Eisenhower's voice, recorded on tape ahead of time, was sent up in the instrument package. After the Atlas made twelve trips around the earth, a radio station at Cape Canaveral gave it a coded signal that triggered one of its transmitters. Down from space came the President's message, scratchy but intelligible...
...Atlas stayed too far from the U.S. for further experiments. Then it passed near a tracking station in California, which first tried to extract from it a second broadcast of Eisenhower's voice. The satellite tried to comply, but reception was poor. The station then radioed a signal that told the satellite to record a fresh message. The satellite obeyed, making a tape of a Teletype version of President Eisenhower's message. As it swept eastward at 17,000 m.p.h., a station in Texas gave it the playback signal. Down from space came the message recorded...
Next time around, the full experiment worked. On command, the satellite erased the Teletype message and recorded a voice message: "This is Prado Dam. United States Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Corona, Calif. We are transmitting the President's message . . ." Queried by the tracking station in Texas, the satellite repeated the message "loud and clear...
...suspended for 1½ hours. When it was resumed, A.T. & T. sold at $225 a share, up $23. Earlier in the year A.T. & T. had another profound effect on the market. In September, it decided to put $260 million of its pension fund into common stocks. It was a signal that to one of the most conservative investors in the nation, stocks were not only respectable but prudent investments...