These were and are called "bent pipe" satalites as they deftly turn around an amplified signal. But their control circuits are different and are not so open.

These were and are called "bent pipe" satalites as they deftly turn around an amplified signal. But their control circuits are different and are not so open. For the airplane nerds, this was also how early radar jammers worked. They took an incomming radar signal, delayed it a little, and retransmitted. No processing required and no digital circuits. That worked very well once upon a time.