The US Air Force pioneered military satellite communications in the early space age. But its path to getting there was not direct or smooth. In the late 1950s, the Army Signal Corps was placed in charge of developing a military satellite communications capability, with the Air Force supplying the launch vehicle. The Army program was named Advent, and it was a highly ambitious plan to put a large satellite in geosynchronous orbit at a time when the United States was having difficulty launching even small satellites into low Earth orbits
By 1962, Advent’s mass and costs had increased to such an extent that it was cancelled, with a lightweight version of the satellite was proposed instead. However, by December 1962, the lightweight geosynchronous satellite was still in limbo, with the Air Force making no moves to begin a formal procurement effort despite several companies already prepared to bid.[1] The Air Force was instead focused on a less-complex approach, known as the Initial Defense Communication Satellite Program, or IDCSP, later renamed the Initial Defense Satellite Communications System, or IDSCS. Recently, some never-before-published photos of the early IDSCS satellites have surfaced.
