Harold Rosen, in full Harold Allen Rosen, (born March 20, 1926, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—died January 30, 2017, Pacific Palisades, California), American engineer who designed Syncom 2, the primary geosynchronous communications satellite tv for pc.
Rosen obtained a bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1947. Beginning in 1948, he labored at Raytheon Manufacturing Company (now Raytheon Company). He obtained a grasp’s diploma (1948) and a doctorate (1951) in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He started work at Hughes Aircraft Company (later a part of Hughes Electronics Corporation) on radar items for plane in 1956.
Both Hughes and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) developed plans for communications satellites shortly after the launch of the primary synthetic satellite tv for pc, Sputnik 1, in 1957. AT&T deliberate to develop 20–40 satellites that will orbit at low altitudes. However, Rosen favoured a satellite tv for pc in geostationary orbit, 35,785 km (22,236 miles) above Earth’s Equator, which might have an orbital interval equal to that of Earth’s rotation and thus seem stationary within the sky. Only three satellites, spaced 120° aside, can be required for an entire worldwide community with no less than one satellite tv for pc all the time seen from any level on Earth. In 1959 Rosen, assisted by engineers Donald Williams and Thomas Hudspeth, designed Syncom. To maintain the satellite tv for pc in orbit, Rosen was impressed by the best way a soccer travels in a straight path when spun, and thus Syncom was stabilized by its personal spin, which allowed it to dispense with a cumbersome three-axis stabilization system.
Syncom 1 was misplaced shortly after launch on February 14, 1963. Syncom 2, the primary satellite tv for pc in a geosynchronous orbit (an orbit that has a interval of 24 hours however is inclined to the Equator), was launched efficiently on July 26, 1963, and Syncom 3, the primary satellite tv for pc in geostationary orbit, on August 19, 1964. The benefits of a geostationary communications satellite tv for pc over a low-orbit system reminiscent of AT&T’s Telstar, which may very well be in vary of a receiving antenna for just a few minutes, have been instantly apparent.
On April 6, 1965, Early Bird (additionally known as Intelsat 1), the primary satellite tv for pc for Intelsat, a global consortium that supplied satellite tv for pc communications, was launched; it was designed and constructed by Rosen’s crew. Early Bird was the primary operational business satellite tv for pc offering common telecommunications and broadcasting providers between North America and Europe.
Rosen continued to develop communications satellites for Hughes Aircraft till he retired from the corporate in 1993 as vp of engineering for the area and communications group. In 1993 he and his brother Ben, chairman of the pc producer Compaq, based Rosen Motors, which developed a hybrid vehicle that was powered by a flywheel and a gasoline-driven turbine. However, the corporate did not curiosity the vehicle trade within the expertise and closed in 1997. Rosen and engineer J.B. Straubel cofounded Volacom, Inc., which sought to develop an unmanned aerial automobile that will be a communications platform. In 2007 he based the Southern California Selene Group, one of many groups competing for the Google Lunar X Prize to construct the primary non-public lunar rover, however the crew withdrew in 2008.
Rosen obtained many honours for his work, together with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (1985) and the National Academy of Engineering’s Charles Stark Draper Prize (1995). In 2003 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.