Technology and Engineering. Satellites. A satellite is an object that is in orbit around an object in space of a larger size. Things such as the Earth's Moon or Pluto's Charon are natural satellites. Humans have also created artificial satellites—human-made machines and spacecraft in orbit around our Earth or other objects in our galaxy.
The works frequently used a similar formula, combining cultural symbols, images of the satellite, and an overhead view of the Earth to reinforce pictorially the importance of space technologies in national or international life. This poster is of AUSSAT, the first communications satellite undertaken by Australia, launched in 1985.
The artifact seen here is a backup payload from the Museum's collection. SCORE, the first communications satellite, launched on December 18, 1958, aboard an Atlas missile. By the mid-1960s, communications satellites had become reliable tools. Satellites positioned in high orbits could"see" large swaths of Earth, allowing them to receive and ...
The United States chose government direction and created two new institutions, COMSAT and INTELSAT, to develop satellite communcations, an arrangement that lasted for more than two decades. This Telstar is a backup spacecraft to Telstar 1 and 2 (launched respectively in 1962 and 1963), transferred from the National Museum of American History to the Museum in 2006.
Home. How Satellites Track Storms From Space. While commonplace today, satellite weather tracking was not possible before 1960. The first images of weather from space were taken by the TIROS I satellite on April 1, 1960. Today, different types of satellites, using a variety of tools, monitor and capture images of weather on Earth and in space.
This satellite is the heart of a space-based communications system called Iridium. Conceived, designed, and built by Motorola, the Iridium system provides wireless, mobile communications through a network of 66 satellites in polar, low-Earth orbits. Inaugurated in November 1998, under the auspices of Iridium LLC, this complex space system ...
This is a replica of Ariel-1 satellite, the world's first internationally conceived and executed satellite. The flight model was designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and carried six British experiments designed to study the ionosphere and its relationship to solar radiation, including cosmic ray, solar emission and ionospheric experiments.
During the Cold War, application satellites served national security or civilian interests. From the beginning of the Space Age, people recognized that Earth-orbiting satellites—able to see and communicate across vast distances—promised unique benefits. In the tense years of the Cold War, such spacecraft (known as applications satellites ...
Military Reconnaissance. Military reconnaissance is an operation to obtain information relating to the activities, resources, or military forces of a foreign nation or armed group. It uses balloons, aviation, and space technology and has played an important role in our history. The technologies used to carry out military reconnaissance are varied.
Telstar, launched on July 10, 1962, was the world's first active communications satellite. After its launch, models of the satellite circulated around the US to museums and local community centers. This photo is of a model displayed at the Parade of Progress, a show in Cleveland, Ohio. Last week, the Museum recognized the 50 th anniversary of ...