The Usage Of A Communications Satellite

The headline news behind the space race which gripped everyone across the globe in the latter half of the twentieth century was that of placing a man on the Moon. Proud nations strove against each other to compete to get there first, using outer space as a battleground for a fight which no one had the stomach for on earth. However, in amongst the horror and selfishness of that battle there was a much more humble invention which has proved more useful in the long run. Communications satellite systems began to spring up as space hardware began littering near and far earth orbits.

The volume of space material which encircles the earth at different altitudes is staggering. All of it is held in place as it rotates around Earth by the gravitational pull of the planet. Each space satellite has its own specific use which is highly important to the smooth day to day running of human lives. Today, people use the links of communication which have been created to navigate and talk to ships, cars, lorries and planes.

They are useful for communication, but they also help locate people geographically. Before their invention, people had to assume and guess where a given thing was in relation to others. Measurement was involved, but it was by its nature relatively imprecise. Now, thanks to satellites, someone's precise location wherever they are on the globe can be triangulated and calculated to within a fraction of an inch. This has use in satnav technology, which tells people where to go when driving and flying.

They are important for communication too. Without these near and far earth orbiting items, air traffic controllers would not be able to position, nor communicate with, the thousands of planes which take to the air every day. The volume of air traffic passing at close range to each other means that if this link to the ground (to get a wider picture of where everyone is) was broken, there would be chaos and accidents.

There are other ways to use satellites as well. Long distance phone calls which criss cross the world are made in part using satellites. A transmission is carried in the traditional way until it reaches a large beam transmitter, when it is then fired into orbit and taken in by a passing satellite. This then down streams it to a receiver, often on the other side of the world entirely.

This process takes a fraction of a second. It is very reliable given the complicated way it occurs, and only rarely can a delay caused by its transmission be noticed. The entirety of the outside broadcast television industry owes a huge debt to this way of working.

Our cable news broadcasts would not exist thanks to this. The ability to bring a guest into a remote television studio and use satellites to ask him or her questions, and stream back their answers as live, is a major breakthrough. Whole systems of working would change.

A communications satellite has more to offer than many people realise. Things the population take for granted would not exist. Most of our latest leaps in technology have this flying space debris to thank.