We now wanted to get Telstar to do something that had seemed to work in
the laboratory. The transistors most affected by radiation were those
operating under continuous reverse bias, to whose surfaces unwanted ions
were attracted. If we removed the voltage from these transistors, we
felt that the ionization layer would be dissipated, and they would act
normally again. Our plan was to prepare a complete taped program of all
fifteen commands, and carefully disconnect Telstar’s storage battery
(using command SS). Then, when the satellite went into eclipse, there
would be no power available from the solar cells either, and—if our
calculation was right—the complete lack of voltage ought to restore the
transistors to working order. This was a hazardous procedure, for if
something went wrong we might have a completely silent satellite on our
hands.
As it turned out, an accident did happen—but one of a different and much
more fortunate kind. On December 27th Telstar misinterpreted our “trick”
commands and disconnected its own battery before we asked it to. Then,
as the satellite went into the earth’s shadow, we held our breath while
all its power stopped and the telemetry went silent. But, as we had
hoped, a rest period with all power removed from the deteriorated
transistors apparently made them work almost normally once again. On
January 1, 1963, we were able to disconnect the battery in regular
fashion—that is, using the one-and-zero code. After this was done, and
all power had been removed, both decoders again would operate when given
normal commands (actually, the first one restored to duty was decoder
No. 2, which had gone out of order first, back in August).