Satellites and spacecrafts

Satellites and Spacecrafts

By: Guillermo Ibáñez , Enrique López and Ernesto Sánchez

Main Points

• Concept: Satellites and spacecrafts• Spacecrafts• History of spacecrafts• Manned spacecrafts and spaceplanes• Satellites, in orbit and services• Types of satellites• NASA

Concept

• A spacecraft is a vehicle or device designed for travel or operation outside the Earth’s atmosphere

• A satellite is an spacecraft that orbits the Earth, the moon, or another celestial body.

Spacecrafts

Spacecrafts• A spacecraft is a vehicle designed

to fly in outer space.• They are used for communications,

meteorology, earth observation, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, transportation of humans and cargo.

• Just 24 nations actually have spacefaring technology; the most important ones are Russia, the United States, the member states of the European Space Agency, the Republic of China, Japan.

History of Spacecrafts

• The name of the first artificial spacecraft which was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union in 1957 was Sputnik .

• As it reached the space new political, military, technological, and scientific developments took place.

Manned spacecrafts

• Manned spacecraft (spaceships) are large satellites able to put humans into (and beyond) an orbit, and return them to Earth.

• As of 2011, only 3 nations have flown manned spacecraft: USSR/Russia, USA, and China

• The 1st spaceship was Vostok 1, which carried Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, and completed a full Earth orbit.

• The 2nd spaceship was Freedom 7 in 1961 carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard.

Spaceplanes

• Some reusable vehicles have been designed only for manned spaceflight, and these are often called spaceplanes.

• The first automatic partially reusable spacecraft was the Buran (Snowstorm), launched by the USSR in 1988, although it made only one flight.

Satellites

Satellites

• A satellite is an artificial object which has been intentionally placed into orbit

• Satellites are used for a large number of purposes, including military and civilian Earth observation satellites, communication, navigation satellites, weather satellites, and research satellites.

• The name of the first artificial satellite in 1957 was Sputnik .

Satellites in orbit

• About 6,600 satellites have been launched. The latest estimates are that 3,600 remain in orbit. Of those, about 1,000 are operational; the rest have lived out their useful lives and are part of the space debris.

• Satellites are usually semi-independent computer-controlled systems.

Satellite services• Fixed satellite services: handle hundreds of

billions of voice, data, and video transmission tasks across all countries and continents between certain points on the Earth's surface.

• Mobile satellite systems: help connect remote regions, vehicles, ships, people and aircraft to other parts of the world and/or other mobile or stationary communications units, in addition to serving as navigation systems.

• Scientific research satellites (commercial and noncommercial): provide meteorological information, land survey data (e.g. remote sensing), Amateur (HAM) Radio, and other different scientific research applications.

Types of Satellites• Killer Satellites• Astronomical satellites• Biosatellites.• Communications satellites • Miniaturized satellites• Navigational satellites• Reconnaissance satellites• Earth observation• Tether• Weather satellites• Recovery satellites• Manned spacecraft (spaceships)• Space stations

NASA

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency that is responsible for the civilian space program as well as for aeronautics and aerospace research.

• NASA collaborate in the Apollo moon landing missions and other important programs

• NASA shares data with various national and international organizations.