Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

Investment Cost Per
Satellite Voice Circuit
Per Year (Dollars)
James Martin, Future
Developments in
Telecommunications, New York,
Prentice Hall (1977)
20,000
10,000
2,000
1,000
200
100
10
Figure 6. Investment in Satellite Voice Circuits
EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 527
Early Bird $20,000
INTELSAT II
INTELSAT III
Document III-22
INTELSAT IV
Westar
INTELSAT V
$2,000
Document title: “Space Industrialization: An Overview,” Final Report, Volume 1,
SAI-79-662-HU, Science Applications, Inc., April 15, 1978, pp. 1–5, 10–12, 15–17.
Source: NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
This study was similar to the Rockwell study of the same era (Document III-21). It examined detailed
industrial sectors and the potential demand and revenues from sample space ventures. It also urged
the aerospace industry to look at the possibilities of space industrialization. What follows are excerpts
from sections 1, 3, and 4 and a figure from section 5.
RCA
The potential of a largescale
domestic satellite
designed for launch by
the Space Shuttle
1965 1970 1975
Year
1980 1985
$200
$20
$14/Circuit-
Year 1987