The Invention We Like to Call: The Satellite

As stated previously, the very first communications satellite Sputnik I was launched by the USSR in 1957 . The US bounced back by sending up their first satellite coded PROJECT: SCORE. In response to a sucessful communication satellite, the US sent up a tape recorder with a Christmas greeting Einsenhower. One year after, NASA launched a sucessful communication satellite called the Echo , which looked like a big balloon. The first satellite that had a constant telecommuncations link was the Early Bird, which orbited over the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite has played an important role in military and strategic use over the years. All the way from the earliest days of the Cold War to Operation Iraqi Freedom, sattelites have given intelligence information they needed to better direct wars and form strategies. Satellites can also be used for tracking people, for instance the CIA, FBI, and some police forces use satellites to track suspects from place to place. Developments and advancements in technology have greatly impacted the results of satellites. In the early days of satellites, it was a huge deal to change the flight path of a satellite and in addition to the complexity of programming, the images were not as clear and distinct. Now, satellite controllers can change flight plan with a few clicks of the keys and can zoom in to look at license plates from approximately 38500 km. Besides aiding in military communication, sattelites aid in mass comunication. There are Direct TV satellites in orbit for the purpose of broadcasting world-wide tv, and there are specificly designed weather satellites that help in the forecast and prognosticatino of events such as hurricanes etc. The backbone behind the satellite program is the radio and radiowaves. Without the development of the radio, there would be no DISH Network, no Pay Per View, no Google Earth, no Siruis or XM radio, no Cardinals... the list goes on.

This is a picture of the Satellite DS1 being deployed into its orbit