Hughes Syncom communications satellites
E455438
The Hughes Syncom communications satellites were pioneering early geosynchronous communications satellites developed by Hughes Aircraft Company that helped demonstrate and establish the feasibility of global satellite communications.
All labels observed (6)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Hughes HS satellite bus family | 1 |
| Hughes Syncom communications satellites canonical | 1 |
| Syncom 1 | 1 |
| Syncom 2 | 1 |
| Syncom 3 | 1 |
| Syncom IV-2 (Leasat 2) communications satellite | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4588419 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hughes Syncom communications satellites Context triple: [Hughes Aircraft Company, notableProduct, Hughes Syncom communications satellites]
-
A.
Alouette satellites
The Alouette satellites were pioneering Canadian scientific spacecraft launched in the 1960s to study the ionosphere, marking Canada as one of the first nations to design and build its own satellite.
-
B.
ANIK C2 communications satellite
ANIK C2 is a Canadian commercial communications satellite used to provide telecommunications and broadcasting services.
-
C.
Argos satellite system
The Argos satellite system is a global satellite-based data collection and location system used to relay environmental and oceanographic measurements from remote platforms such as Argo floats to data centers.
-
D.
PALAPA B1 communications satellite
PALAPA B1 was an Indonesian communications satellite launched in the early 1980s to expand the country's domestic and regional telecommunications capabilities.
-
E.
Communications Satellite Corporation
Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) was a U.S. government-authorized, publicly owned company established in the 1960s to develop and operate commercial satellite communications systems, notably participating in the creation of the global Intelsat network.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hughes Syncom communications satellites Target entity description: The Hughes Syncom communications satellites were pioneering early geosynchronous communications satellites developed by Hughes Aircraft Company that helped demonstrate and establish the feasibility of global satellite communications.
-
A.
Alouette satellites
The Alouette satellites were pioneering Canadian scientific spacecraft launched in the 1960s to study the ionosphere, marking Canada as one of the first nations to design and build its own satellite.
-
B.
ANIK C2 communications satellite
ANIK C2 is a Canadian commercial communications satellite used to provide telecommunications and broadcasting services.
-
C.
Argos satellite system
The Argos satellite system is a global satellite-based data collection and location system used to relay environmental and oceanographic measurements from remote platforms such as Argo floats to data centers.
-
D.
PALAPA B1 communications satellite
PALAPA B1 was an Indonesian communications satellite launched in the early 1980s to expand the country's domestic and regional telecommunications capabilities.
-
E.
Communications Satellite Corporation
Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) was a U.S. government-authorized, publicly owned company established in the 1960s to develop and operate commercial satellite communications systems, notably participating in the creation of the global Intelsat network.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
communications satellite
ⓘ
communications satellite ⓘ communications satellite ⓘ communications satellite series ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| developer | Hughes Aircraft Company ⓘ |
| failureCause | electronics failure ⓘ |
| firstLaunchDate | 1963 ⓘ |
| heritage |
foundation for commercial comsat industry
ⓘ
precursor to Intelsat satellites ⓘ |
| impact |
demonstrated feasibility of global satellite communications
ⓘ
influenced design of later commercial comsats ⓘ |
| inclination | 33 degrees ⓘ |
| launchDate |
1963-02-14
ⓘ
1963-07-26 ⓘ 1964-08-19 ⓘ |
| launchSite | Cape Canaveral ⓘ |
| launchVehicle | Delta rocket ⓘ |
| longitude | 180 degrees west ⓘ |
| manufacturer | Hughes Aircraft Company ⓘ |
| mass | approximately 39 kilograms (per satellite) ⓘ |
| member |
Syncom 1
ⓘ
linked to:
Hughes Syncom communications satellites
Syncom 2 ⓘ
linked to:
Hughes Syncom communications satellites
Syncom 3 ⓘ
linked to:
Hughes Syncom communications satellites
|
| notableFor |
first successful geosynchronous communications satellite
ⓘ
pioneering commercial satellite communications ⓘ |
| numberOfSpacecraft | 3 ⓘ |
| operator | NASA ⓘ |
| orbitType |
geostationary orbit
ⓘ
geosynchronous orbit ⓘ near-geostationary orbit ⓘ near-geosynchronous orbit ⓘ |
| powerSource |
batteries
ⓘ
solar cells ⓘ |
| programStart | early 1960s ⓘ |
| purpose |
demonstration of global satellite communications
ⓘ
experimental communications ⓘ |
| shape | cylindrical ⓘ |
| spacecraftType | geosynchronous communications satellite ⓘ |
| stabilization | spin-stabilized ⓘ |
| status | lost in orbit ⓘ |
| technologyDemonstrated |
geosynchronous station-keeping
ⓘ
three-axis spin-stabilization ⓘ |
| usedFor |
1964 Tokyo Olympics television coverage
ⓘ
live television relay ⓘ military communications tests ⓘ voice and teletype relay ⓘ |
| usedFrequencyBand |
C-band
ⓘ
microwave band ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Hughes Syncom communications satellites Description of subject: The Hughes Syncom communications satellites were pioneering early geosynchronous communications satellites developed by Hughes Aircraft Company that helped demonstrate and establish the feasibility of global satellite communications.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Hughes Syncom communications satellites
linked to: Hughes Syncom communications satellites
linked to: Hughes Syncom communications satellites
linked to: Hughes Syncom communications satellites