Satellites

Satellites



A satellite is an object that moves around a larger object. Earth is a satellite because it moves around the sun. The moon is a satellite because it moves around Earth. Earth and the moon are called "natural" satellites. But usually when someone says "satellite," they are talking about a "man-made" satellite.


Satellites can be used for commercial or militaristic purposes


Satellites help navigation


The satellite navigation system is a system of artificial satellites capable of providing geospecific positioning everywhere in the world. With the help of this system, small electronic receivers calculate their position, including latitude, longitude, and height from the mean sea level with utmost precision.


Common Global navigation systems include:

GPS (USA)

GLONASS (Russia)

BeiDou (China)

Galilei (EU)



Planetary Observation

Take pictures and record data about the planet they are orbiting


For Earth:

Environmental Monitoring

Meteorology

Cartography


Communications

Relays information across the curvature of the earth through radio signals

Multiple satellites work together as transponders

Passive:

Only reflect signal, does not amplify so signal received is very weak.

Active:

Amplifies Signal, more common nowadays


Telescopes

Observe distant astronomical objects, is better because it avoids light pollution and other distortions that ground telescopes face

Astronomical Survey:

Maps whole sky

Focused Survey:

Maps small parts of the sky but with higher quality pictures


Satellite antennas

  • Used to send signals and receive signals continuously

  • Applies to satellites orbiting other planets.



The International Space Station is a modular space station in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (US), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.


New Horizons

New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program.


Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It orbited for three weeks before its batteries ran out.


SMAP

Soil Moisture Active Passive is a NASA environmental monitoring satellite launched on 31 January 2015. It was one of the first Earth observation satellites developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council's Decadal Survey. NASA's investment is US$916 million.


Cassini-Huygens

The Cassini–Huygens space-research mission, commonly called Cassini, involved a collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites.



Reflection:

In today’s lesson we learnt about satellites and their purposes, they are very big and useful for communication. The presenters did a good job explaining and were very engaging and gave us time to process it. We also got to design our own rocket for a water rocket practical next week.