1.
Satellite
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In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an artificial object which has been intentionally placed into orbit. Such objects are called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as Earths Moon. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, since then, about 6,600 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2013 estimate,3,600 remained in orbit, of those, about 1,000 were operational, the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris. Approximately 500 operational satellites are in orbit,50 are in medium-Earth orbit. A few large satellites have been launched in parts and assembled in orbit. Over a dozen space probes have been placed into orbit around other bodies and become artificial satellites to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, a few asteroids, Satellites are used for many purposes. Common types include military and civilian Earth observation satellites, communications satellites, navigation satellites, weather satellites, Space stations and human spacecraft in orbit are also satellites. Satellite orbits vary greatly, depending on the purpose of the satellite, well-known classes include low Earth orbit, polar orbit, and geostationary orbit. A launch vehicle is a rocket that throws a satellite into orbit, usually it lifts off from a launch pad on land. Some are launched at sea from a submarine or a mobile maritime platform, Satellites are usually semi-independent computer-controlled systems. Satellite subsystems attend many tasks, such as power generation, thermal control, telemetry, attitude control, the first fictional depiction of a satellite being launched into orbit was a short story by Edward Everett Hale, The Brick Moon. The idea surfaced again in Jules Vernes The Begums Fortune, in 1903, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published Exploring Space Using Jet Propulsion Devices, which is the first academic treatise on the use of rocketry to launch spacecraft. He calculated the speed required for a minimal orbit. In 1928, Herman Potočnik published his book, The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor. He described the use of orbiting spacecraft for observation of the ground, in a 1945 Wireless World article, the English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke described in detail the possible use of communications satellites for mass communications. He suggested that three geostationary satellites would provide coverage over the entire planet, the first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4,1957, and initiating the Soviet Sputnik program, with Sergei Korolev as chief designer. This in turn triggered the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, Sputnik 1 helped to identify the density of high atmospheric layers through measurement of its orbital change and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere
2.
Reconnaissance satellite
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A reconnaissance satellite is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The first generation type took photographs, then ejected canisters of photographic film which would descend to earth, corona capsules were retrieved in mid-air as they floated down on parachutes. Later, spacecraft had digital imaging systems and downloaded the images via encrypted radio links, in the United States, most information available is on programs that existed up to 1972, as this information has been declassified due to its age. Some information about prior to that time is still classified. A few up-to-date reconnaissance satellite images have been declassified on occasion, or leaked, there are several major types of reconnaissance satellite. Missile Early warning Provides warning of an attack by detecting ballistic missile launches, earliest known are Missile Defense Alarm System. Nuclear explosion detection Identifies and characterizes nuclear explosions in space, photo surveillance Provides imaging of earth from space. Images can be a survey or close-look telephoto, electronic-reconnaissance Signals intelligence, intercepts stray radio waves. Radar imaging Most space-based radars use synthetic aperture radar, can be used at night or through cloud cover. On 17 February 2014, a Russian Kosmos-1220 originally launched in 1980 and used for naval missile targeting until 1982, reconnaissance satellites have been used to enforce human rights, through the Satellite Sentinel Project, which monitors atrocities in Sudan and South Sudan. Additionally, companies such as GeoEye and DigitalGlobe have provided commercial satellite imagery in support of disaster response. During the 1950s, a Soviet hoax had led to American fears of a bomber gap, president Lyndon B. Johnson told a gathering in 1967, I wouldnt want to be quoted on this. Weve spent $35 or $40 billion on the space program, and if nothing else had come out of it except the knowledge that we gained from space photography, it would be worth ten times what the whole program has cost. Because tonight we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out and we were doing things we didnt need to do. We were building things we didnt need to build and we were harboring fears we didnt need to harbor. Spy satellites are commonly seen in spy fiction and military fiction, americas Secret Eyes in Space, the U. S. Spies in the Sky, Surveillance Satellites in War and Peace, berlin, New York, Springer, Chichester, UK, In association with Praxis Publishing
3.
Natural environment
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The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some part of Earth and this environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather, and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a system in the desert. Though many animals build things to provide an environment for themselves, they are not human, hence beaver dams. People seldom find absolutely natural environments on Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, more precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in a field, the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil. Natural environment is used as a synonym for habitat. For instance, when we say that the environment of giraffes is the savanna. Earth science generally recognizes 4 spheres, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere as correspondent to rocks, water, air, and life respectively. Some scientists include, as part of the spheres of the Earth, Earth science, is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. There are four major disciplines in sciences, namely geography, geology, geophysics. These major disciplines use physics, chemistry, biology, chronology, the Earths crust, or lithosphere, is the outermost solid surface of the planet and is chemically and mechanically different from underlying mantle. It has been generated greatly by igneous processes in which magma cools, beneath the lithosphere lies the mantle which is heated by the decay of radioactive elements. The mantle though solid is in a state of rheic convection and this convection process causes the lithospheric plates to move, albeit slowly. The resulting process is known as plate tectonics, volcanoes result primarily from the melting of subducted crust material or of rising mantle at mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes. An ocean is a body of saline water, and a component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earths surface is covered by ocean, a body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans. More than half of area is over 3,000 meters deep
4.
Meteorology
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Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century, the 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data, Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local, regional, Meteorology, climatology, atmospheric physics, and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology, the interactions between Earths atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Meteorology has application in diverse fields such as the military, energy production, transport, agriculture. The word meteorology is from Greek μετέωρος metéōros lofty, high and -λογία -logia -logy, varāhamihiras classical work Brihatsamhita, written about 500 AD, provides clear evidence that a deep knowledge of atmospheric processes existed even in those times. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology, Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive achievements described in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle and they are all called swooping bolts because they swoop down upon the Earth. Lightning is sometimes smoky, and is then called smoldering lightning, sometimes it darts quickly along, at other times, it travels in crooked lines, and is called forked lightning. When it swoops down upon some object it is called swooping lightning, the Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs. The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather, in 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. According to Toufic Fahd, around the 9th century, Al-Dinawari wrote the Kitab al-Nabat, ptolemy wrote on the atmospheric refraction of light in the context of astronomical observations. St. Roger Bacon was the first to calculate the size of the rainbow. He stated that a rainbow summit can not appear higher than 42 degrees above the horizon, in the late 13th century and early 14th century, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and Theodoric of Freiberg were the first to give the correct explanations for the primary rainbow phenomenon. Theoderic went further and also explained the secondary rainbow, in 1716, Edmund Halley suggested that aurorae are caused by magnetic effluvia moving along the Earths magnetic field lines. In 1441, King Sejongs son, Prince Munjong, invented the first standardized rain gauge and these were sent throughout the Joseon Dynasty of Korea as an official tool to assess land taxes based upon a farmers potential harvest. In 1450, Leone Battista Alberti developed a swinging-plate anemometer, and was known as the first anemometer, in 1607, Galileo Galilei constructed a thermoscope
5.
Cartography
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Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively, the fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to, Set the maps agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the concern of map editing, traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries. Represent the terrain of the object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections, eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the maps purpose. This is the concern of generalization, reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization, orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design, modern cartography constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems. The earliest known map is a matter of debate, both because the term map isnt well-defined and because some artifacts that might be maps might actually be something else. A wall painting that might depict the ancient Anatolian city of Çatalhöyük has been dated to the late 7th millennium BCE, the oldest surviving world maps are from 9th century BCE Babylonia. One shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by Assyria, Urartu and several cities, all, in turn, another depicts Babylon as being north of the world center. The ancient Greeks and Romans created maps since Anaximander in the 6th century BCE, in the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy wrote his treatise on cartography, Geographia. This contained Ptolemys world map – the world known to Western society. As early as the 8th century, Arab scholars were translating the works of the Greek geographers into Arabic, in ancient China, geographical literature dates to the 5th century BCE. The oldest extant Chinese maps come from the State of Qin, dated back to the 4th century BCE, in the book of the Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, published in 1092 by the Chinese scientist Su Song, a star map on the equidistant cylindrical projection. Early forms of cartography of India included depictions of the pole star and these charts may have been used for navigation. Mappa mundi are the Medieval European maps of the world, approximately 1,100 mappae mundi are known to have survived from the Middle Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscripts and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced his medieval atlas Tabula Rogeriana in 1154
6.
Explorer 1
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Explorer 1 was the first satellite of the United States, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year, the Soviet Unions Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations. Explorer 1 was launched on January 31,1958 at 22,48 Eastern Time atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt and it remained in orbit until 1970, and has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecraft in the Explorer series. Explorer 1 was given Satellite Catalog Number 4, and the Harvard designation 1958 Alpha 1, the forerunner to the modern International Designator. Earth satellite program began in 1954 as a joint U. S. Army and U. S. Navy proposal, called Project Orbiter, to put a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year. The proposal, using a military Redstone missile, was rejected in 1955 by the Eisenhower administration in favor of the Navys Project Vanguard, using a booster advertised as more civilian in nature. Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4,1957, the Jupiter-C design used for the launch had already been flight-tested in nose cone reentry tests for the Jupiter IRBM, and was modified into Juno I. Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C, however, before work was completed, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on November 3,1957. The U. S. Navys attempt to put the first U. S. satellite into orbit failed with the launch of the Vanguard TV3 on December 6,1957. Explorer 1 was designed and built by the California Institute of Technologys JPL under the direction of Dr. William H. Pickering and it was the second satellite to carry a mission payload. The total weight of the satellite was 13.37 kilograms, in comparison, the first Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 weighed 83.6 kg. The instrument section at the front end of the satellite and the empty scaled-down fourth-stage rocket casing orbited as a single unit, data from the scientific instruments was transmitted to the ground by two antennas. This was an early time frame in the development of transistor technology. A total of 29 transistors were used in Explorer 1, plus additional ones in the Armys micrometeorite amplifier, electrical power was provided by mercury chemical batteries that made up approximately 40 percent of the payload weight. The external skin of the instrument section was sandblasted stainless steel with white stripes, the final coloration was determined by studies of shadow–sunlight intervals based on firing time, trajectory, orbit, and inclination. The Explorer 1 payload consisted of the Iowa Cosmic Ray Instrument without a data recorder which was not modified in time to make it onto the spacecraft. The real-time data received on the ground was very sparse and puzzling showing normal counting rates
7.
Van Allen radiation belt
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A radiation belt is a zone of energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind that is captured by and held around a planet by that planets magnetic field. The Earth has two belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The discovery of the belts is credited to James Van Allen, Earths two main belts extend from an altitude of about 1,000 to 60,000 kilometers above the surface in which region radiation levels vary. Most of the particles form the belts are thought to come from solar wind. By trapping the solar wind, the magnetic field deflects those energetic particles, the belts are located in the inner region of the Earths magnetosphere. The belts trap energetic electrons and protons, other nuclei, such as alpha particles, are less prevalent. The belts endanger satellites, which must have their sensitive components protected with adequate shielding if they spend significant time in that zone, kristian Birkeland, Carl Størmer, and Nicholas Christofilos had investigated the possibility of trapped charged particles before the Space Age. Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 confirmed the existence of the belt in early 1958 under James Van Allen at the University of Iowa, the trapped radiation was first mapped by Explorer 4, Pioneer 3 and Luna 1. The term Van Allen belts refers specifically to the radiation belts surrounding Earth, however, the Sun does not support long-term radiation belts, as it lacks a stable, global, dipole field. The Earths atmosphere limits the belts particles to regions above 200–1,000 km, the belts are confined to a volume which extends about 65° on either side of the celestial equator. The NASA Van Allen Probes mission aims at understanding how populations of relativistic electrons and ions in space form or change in response to changes in solar activity, the Van Allen Probes mission successfully launched on August 30,2012. The primary mission is scheduled to last two years with expendables expected to last four, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Living With a Star program of which the Van Allen Probes is a project, along with Solar Dynamics Observatory. The Applied Physics Laboratory is responsible for the implementation and instrument management for the Van Allen Probes, Radiation belts exist around other planets and moons in the solar system that have magnetic fields powerful enough to sustain them. To date, most of these belts have been poorly mapped. The Voyager Program only nominally confirmed the existence of similar belts around Uranus, the inner Van Allen Belt extends typically from an altitude of 0.2 to 2 Earth radii or 1,000 km to 6,000 km above the Earth. In certain cases when solar activity is stronger or in areas such as the South Atlantic Anomaly. The inner belt contains high concentrations of electrons in the range of hundreds of keV and energetic protons with energies exceeding 100 MeV, the source of lower energy protons is believed to be proton diffusion due to changes in the magnetic field during geomagnetic storms. Due to the offset of the belts from Earths geometric center
8.
Television Infrared Observation Satellite
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TIROS, or Television Infrared Observation Satellite, is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enabling scientists to view the Earth from a new perspective, space. The program, promoted by Harry Wexler, proved the usefulness of satellite weather observation, TIROS demonstrated at that time that the key to genius is often simplicity. The 270 lb satellite was launched into a circular low earth orbit by a Thor Able rocket. Drum-shaped with a 42-inch diameter, and height of 19 inches, one of the cameras had a wide-angle lens with an f /1.6 aperture that could view an 800-mile-wide area of the Earth. The other camera had a lens with an f /1.8 aperture. The satellite itself was stabilized in its orbit by spinning like a gyroscope, when it first separated from the rockets third stage, it was spinning at about 136 revolutions per minute. To take unblurred photographs, a de-spin mechanism slowed the satellite down to 12 rpm after the orbit was accomplished. The camera shutters made possible the series of pictures which were stored and transmitted back to earth via 2-watt FM transmitters as the satellite approached one of its ground command points. After transmission, the tape was erased or cleaned and readied for more recording, nOAA-N Prime is the last in the TIROS series of NOAA satellites that observe Earth’s weather and the environment. First Tiros satellite in near-polar orbit TIROS-10, launched July 2,1965, deactivated July 31,1966 As of June 2009, nOAA-6 Launched 27 June 1979 into a 450-nmi orbit. The HIRS, a primary sensor, failed 19 September 1983. The satellite exceeded its designed lifetime by almost six years when deactivated on 31 March 1987. It failed to achieve an orbit because of a booster engine anomaly. NOAA-7 Launched 23 June 1981 into a 470-nmi orbit, deactivated June 1986, NOAA-12 Launched 14 May 1991 into a 450-nmi AM orbit, out of sequence. Placed in standby mode on 14 December 1998, when NOAA-15 became operational and deactivated on 10 August 2007, the Advanced TIROS-N spacecraft were similar to the NOAA-A through -D satellites, apart from an enlarged Equipment Support Module to allow integration of additional payloads. The search and rescue system became independent, utilizing a special frequency for transmission of data to the ground, nOAA-8 Launched 28 March 1983 into a 450-nautical-mile orbit, out of sequence to get the first SAR system on a US satellite operational. Deactivated 29 December 1985, following a thermal runaway which destroyed a battery, nOAA-9 Launched 12 December 1984 into 470 nmi afternoon orbit and was the first satellite to carry an SBUV/2 instrument
9.
European Space Agency
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The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states, dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a staff of about 2,000. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching, after World War II, many European scientists left Western Europe in order to work with the United States. The meeting was attended by representatives from eight countries, including Harrie Massey. The Western European nations decided to have two different agencies, one concerned with developing a system, ELDO, and the precursor of the European Space Agency. The latter was established on 20 March 1964 by an agreement signed on 14 June 1962, from 1968 to 1972, ESRO launched seven research satellites. ESA in its current form was founded with the ESA Convention in 1975, ESA has 10 founding member states, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. These signed the ESA Convention in 1975 and deposited the instruments of ratification by 1980, during this interval the agency functioned in a de facto fashion. ESA launched its first major scientific mission in 1975, Cos-B, ESA joined NASA in the IUE, the worlds first high-orbit telescope, which was launched in 1978 and operated very successfully for 18 years. A number of successful Earth-orbit projects followed, and in 1986 ESA began Giotto, its first deep-space mission, to study the comets Halley and Grigg–Skjellerup. Hipparcos, a mission, was launched in 1989 and in the 1990s SOHO, Ulysses. Recent scientific missions in co-operation with NASA include the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as the successor of ELDO, ESA has also constructed rockets for scientific and commercial payloads. Ariane 1, launched in 1979, brought mostly commercial payloads into orbit from 1984 onward, the successor launch vehicle of Ariane 5, the Ariane 6 is already in the definition stage and is envisioned to enter service in the 2020s. The beginning of the new millennium saw ESA become, along with agencies like NASA, JAXA, ISRO, CSA and Roscosmos, one of the major participants in scientific space research. Although ESA had relied on co-operation with NASA in previous decades, especially the 1990s, changed circumstances led to decisions to rely more on itself, a 2011 press issue thus stated, Russia is ESAs first partner in its efforts to ensure long-term access to space. ESA maintains its scientific and research projects mainly for astronomy-space missions such as Corot, launched on 27 December 2006 and this is the reason space exploration is an integral part of overall space activities. It has always been so, and it will be more important in the future. ESA describes its work in two overlapping ways, For the general public the various fields of work are described as Activities, Member states participate to varying degrees in the mandatory and optional space programmes
10.
EUMETSAT
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These States fund the EUMETSAT programs and are the principal users of the systems. EUMETSAT also has 1 Cooperating State, cooperation agreements with Serbia have entered into force. The convention establishing EUMETSAT was opened for signature in 1983 and entered force on 19 June 1986. EUMETSATs primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of meteorological satellites. The activities of EUMETSAT contribute to a meteorological satellite observing system coordinated with other space-faring nations. Satellite observations are an essential input to numerical weather prediction systems, of growing importance is the capacity of weather satellites to gather long-term measurements from space in support of climate change studies. EUMETSAT is not part of the European Union, but became a signatory to the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters in 2012, the national mandatory contributions of member states are proportional to their gross national income. However, the cooperating countries contribute only half of the fee they would pay for full membership, two generations of active Meteosat geostationary satellites, Meteosat First Generation and Meteosat Second Generation, provide images of the full Earth disc, and data for weather forecasts. More detail can be found on the Meteosat wiki, EUMETSAT Polar System Metop mission consists of three polar orbiting Metop satellites, to be flown successively for more than 14 years. The first, Metop-A, was launched by a Russian Soyuz-2. 1a rocket from Baikonur on October 19,2006, Metop-A was initially controlled by ESOC for the LEOP phase immediately following launch, with control handed over to EUMETSAT72 hours after lift-off. EUMETSATs first commands to the satellite were sent at 14,04 UTC on October 22,2006, the second EPS satellite, Metop-B, was launched from Baikonur on 17 September 2012, with the third, Metop-C, scheduled for launch in 2017. The satellites also ensure that the remote regions of the globe. The EPS programme is also the European half of a joint program with NOAA, NOAA has operated a continuous series of low earth orbiting meteorological satellite since April 1960. Many of the instruments on Metop are also operated on NOAA/POES satellites, Jason-2 was launched successfully from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta-II rocket on 20 June 2008,7,46 UTC. Jason Satellites Jason-2 reliably delivers detailed oceanographic data vital to our understanding of weather forecasting, Jason-2 provides data on the decadal oscillations in large ocean basins, such as the Atlantic Ocean, mesoscale variability, and surface wind and wave conditions. Jason-2 measurements contribute to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts satellite data assimilation, helping improve global atmosphere, the next step is the Jason-3 Programme, which has been approved. News, Europe’s next weather satellite passes final checks Press release, MetOp to be launched in October
