The first satellite Sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, at low orbit barely above the Earth's atmosphere. Sputnik was not used for two-way communications since it could only transmit a signal to Earth. Many satellites followed Sputnik into low-Earth orbit. In 1960 the first communication satellite ECHO was launched by the United States. ECHO connected users by bouncing radio signals off its surface but it was unable to transmit radio signals itself.
However in 1962 active satellites TELSTAR and RELAY were launched. These satellites received radio signals from Earth and amplified the signals before re-transmitting them back to Earth. The first satellite to use geostationary orbit for communications was called Syncom and was launched in 1963. Syncom weighed 78 pounds and was 28 inches in diameter. Geostationary satellite orbits the Earth at a much higher altitude than low-Earth orbit satellite
s. The concept of geostationary satellites used for communications is credited to an article written in 1945 by Arthur C. Clarke, RAF electronics officer and member of the British Interplanetary Society, in the British radio magazine Wireless World. The article described the use of manned satellites in 24-hour orbits high above the world's land masses to distribute television programs.
http://history.nasa.gov/satcomhistory.html
The development of the satellite has made such as huge impact on our lives. The radio waves gave us the ability to hear a clearer sound from the radio, telephone, and television considering how important these items have become in our everyday lives. It was the just the beginning of our adventures in space.
ReplyDeleteSatellites have played such an important part in how modern society not only communicates, but functions in general. One quote about the 1945 article written by Arthur Clarke fascinated me: "The article described the use of manned satellites in 24-hour orbits high above the world's land masses to distribute television programs." Well I guess Mr. Clarke had a pretty good idea of where technology was heading with the use of satellites.
ReplyDeleteThe use of satellites has had a notable impact on the entertainment industry, allowing artists to reach every single one of their fans in the comfort of their homes through both the radio and the television. Our culture has also become fascinated with the use of GPS, or Global Positioning System. As we all know, the GPS would not exist without satellites.
Think about the design of satellites. Now picture R2D2 from Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteI may be outing myself as a bit of a nerd here, but the design of satellites has played such a huge role as inspiration for much of Science Fiction. That second photo in the post is almost identical to R2's head, while in other movies, the design is expanded for effect, such as in Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen, and Red Planet.
satellites are one of the greatest inventions. if satellites got destroyed the would go crazy. cell phones, weather forecast, computers, and TV all wouldn’t work. in my astronomy class my teacher was talking about how the sun one day could destroy the satellites from rays or something. don’t remember exactly but it just tells me how important they are.
ReplyDeleteSatellites have been great, but they also have caused chaos. During the Cold war, when someone saw something in the sky they immediately thought it was nuclear weapon. There was an episode of Twilight Zone where they had a scare like that and everyone was freaking out and turned on each other in this small community because they all thought they were going to die, but it turned out to be a satellite reflecting the suns light.
ReplyDeleteI understand that satellites are extremely useful, but they need to know when to stop putting the satellites in our orbit, because there are over 1000 satellites up there right now that are orbiting earth and they are causing almost like a satellite field around the earth.
Satellites have contributed a lot to the future we are in. Without them, we wouldn't be able easily track a person's exact position in the world. Houses that are to far away from internet service providers such as ones from the cable or phone company can also use satellites for internet and T.V., and without satellite technology, they would probably be without these services. It gives us an easy to link to a provider at any location in the earth through the use of them. It is definitely a great accomplishment in technology
ReplyDeleteIt has been a long time since the first satellite has been launched into space. The effects this has had on society are enormous. Satellites have allowed mankind instantaneous communications to anywhere in the globe. It allows for aerial photography, they can scan the cosmos, and they provide a warning for any threats. The biggest personal thing they have allowed for is the use the global positioning satellite. This has immensely helped society in multiple ways. One example of this is the ability to precisely know where you are at all times. A person can never get lost again. Another example is precision weaponry. This is valuable because it can protect a lot of innocent person’s lives. Finally, mapping, surveying and construction companies can use GPS to help make their jobs easier and more efficient.
ReplyDeletewith out satellites this country would be safe, since we have satellites were able to track every single persons move which sometimes we really need that. the other great thing about satellites is google earth, and with google earth most of my video games would have weird inaccurate generated places on earth.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Cold War, the United States and Canada had developed a town north of Toronto just to watch the radar from the nearest satellite for any activity the Russians would send towards North America. At that time, there were hours in advance notice, now, our technology can give us minutes, if not seconds notice of anything unusual in the sky. My reference for this information is a show on the History Channel called "Life After People". They depicted the town as a ghost town because there was a new facility built about 20 miles from this town. The original town was just for the purpose of detecting invaders. Those were desperate times.
ReplyDeleteI find those pictures kind of funny. each picture is not only an improvement of technology each looks like a different icon in sci-fi history. Sputnik looks like it could be one of the tripod ships from war of the worlds. The second could be either r2d2 or the death star from star wars. The third reminds me of the ship from 2001. It is funny how our culture tends to copy images for entertainment from our everyday lives that we never notice.
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