Space Systems/Loral this year has turned 50. Founded back in 1957, SS/Loral was a pioneer in communications satellites and today remains as a leader in the industry of high-powered commercial spacecraft.

The company was founded as the Western Development Laboratories division of Philco Corporation in 1957 and started construction of the first building on its current campus in Palo Alto, California that same year. It became Philco-Ford in 1966, having been purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1961, and later was renamed Aeronutronic Ford and finally Ford Aerospace. The latter's space division took the name Space Systems/Loral when it was acquired in 1990 by Loral Space & Communications and a consortium of international partners. In 1997, Loral became the sole owner of SS/L, and today it remains SS/L's parent company.

Space Systems/Loral (at that time Philco) launched its first communications satellite, Courier 1B, in 1960. Courier was the world's first active repeater satellite, and to highlight this new technology, it was used to transmit a message from President Eisenhower to the United Nations.

Today, SS/L now has about 2,200 employees and a campus of more than 25 buildings in Palo Alto, California. Clients include both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, as well as both DISH Network and DirecTV (to name a few).

[Space Systems/Loral History] 

There's an interesting article in Radio & Records today about the Live Earth coverage on XM Satellite Radio, but what struck me the most was that XM fed its stream direct to Sirius.

"XM had more than 60 people stationed at Wembly Stadium in London and Giant’s Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., collecting sound and producing interviews for seven XM music channels carrying various concerts from Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hamburg, London, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro and New York. XM took sound from the Intelsat pool and fed it to competitors Sirius Satellite Radio and Premiere Radio Networks along with World Space, Italy’s RDS and Radio Express."

What's interesting about this is that it clearly demonstrates that XM and Sirius can share streams with ease, and in real time. I'm not sure if this was the first time they've done this, but it's interesting nonetheless. If you're curious how Sirius/XM would be able to share content across platforms in a post-merger world... well, this is it.

(Read the R&R article for more on the Live Earth coverage. There's a funny bit in there involving Spinal Tap.)

Oh by the way, Premiere is radio syndication company in the U.S. with over 5,000 stations worldwide, and on the Internet, picking up their stream. They're owned by Clear Channel of course, which is the largest radio corporation in the U.S. to boot.

But yet, "they" say terrestrial radio doesn't compete with satellite radio on the nationwide basis.

[Radio & Records]
Thanks Tim!