SPUTNIK 101

Much of the Soviet space program’s history was hidden from view in secrecy for many years; the Soviet government regarded all information about rocketry and space satellites as state secrets that were released only to convince the West of the nation’s capability. Thus, Sputnik 1 was launched by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic in 1957, which delivered a sharp psychological blow to the United States.

Satellites are used in varieties. Namely: spy, communication satellites, navigation satellites, research satellites, weather satellites and the like.

It has been written, that satellites can either be man-made or artificially made. Moon, is the only natural satellite of the earth, being responsible for its tidal action. Since its period of rotation is identical with its period of revolution it always keeps the same face toward the earth. In addition, it lacks an atmosphere because the gravitational field at its surface is insufficient to retain gases at the temperature prevailing.

Several expeditions were also done as probative measures; Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first men to set foot on the surface of the moon. Apollo 11 landing was made on July 20, 1969, instruments left on the moon to measure temperature and magnetism. Some have not conquered well enough. Apollo 13 almost ended in disaster wherein an oxygen tank exploded on the way to the moon, and it has been canceled.

Smaller programs mushroomed in Japan, Canada, and China etcetera. Reconnaissance satellites were established, ocean surveillance, which is considered as one of the more interesting and unusual military space programs, used in synthetic aperture radar to search for US naval vessels. It has been known that Soviet satellites were not as sophisticated and did not last long as their US counterparts. To compensate, the Soviets launched far more of them into orbit. By the end of the cold war, their satellites had longer lifetimes and were increasingly sophisticated.

No other nations have the resource to conduct space programs but the US and USSR though improvisations were done to enable the satellites to operate in a higher, safer orbit.

Television is one of the major outputs of satellites. People are drawn closer, well informed and well briefed on what’s hot and what’s not. In addition, radio both amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) has been growing in a number with different formats and styles of programming. It has become a medium of communication for far reaching individuals. Telecommunication companies have built satellites, to expanse signals, sufficiently giving us the luxury of connecting with our loved ones and friends.

Weather satellites or meteorological satellites are used for early detection of the typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and even tsunami. Other environmental satellites are manned to detect climate changes, ozone holes, computing layers of the atmosphere. To add up, sunlight provides illumination for daytime weather pictures, while the infrared radiation emitted can be photographed day or night using an infrared camera. Almost all the weather satellite photographs shown on television are infrared pictures.

With this new-aged world, continuous innovations booming around, alleviating lives. From the crudest way of detecting environmental changes to the latest creations, inventions from the telecommunication world, helping us to make life the easiest. Thus saying, “This is all about satellites”.