What is a satellite? How can they help us daily / what is the purpose with satellites. How do they orbit? Satellite Power Sources

Essay by tobber4College, UndergraduateB+, January 2004

download word file, 6 pages 3.0

Downloaded 57 times

What is a satellite?

A satellite is a small thing orbiting or circling a larger thing. The complete path it follows is called an orbit. The moon is a example of a natural satellite of the earth. Manmade, or artificial satellites are placed into orbit by rockets or space shuttles.

After World War II, the former Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite in 1951, into space. In 1958, the United States launched its first artificial satellite Telstar I into orbit. Since then, many more satellites were made by different countries and launched into space.

How can they help us daily / what is the purpose with satellites

It has been helping scientists find answers to the unknown, and assisting tourists finding their way when they are lost. Today, satellites have become so widely used that some of them have become available to civilians around the globe with over 150 countries funding them.

With over 2200 operational satellites orbiting the Earth. If we wish to understand why artificial satellites are so useful, we have to understand what each type of satellites are doing starting with Global Positioning system (GPS), Reconnaissance Satellites, and finally Telecommunications Satellites.

The Global Positioning System provides users with accurate information about their latitude, longitude, velocity and altitude, as well as the time, anywhere in the world. The GPS was launch in 1973 by Navstar in the United States and then followed by the Soviet Union with their own GPS. Both GPS systems are free to use by anyone around the world and offers great benefits to the military, companies, and you and me.

There are various types of Reconnaissance Satellites. There are the basic models which are used for photography; then there are more sophisticated models called "spy satellites" which are capable of...