Saturday, 7 October 2017

The world’s oldest scientific satellite is still in orbit

quote [ Launched in March 1958, this grapefruit-sized shiny metal sphere was boosted into a high elliptical orbit. And it’s still there, passing between 650 and 3,800km (406 to 2,375 miles) from the Earth. ]

Remember when a cutting edge research satellite could be installed on the launch vehicle outdoors by a few guys in jackets instead of in a hermetically sealed clean room?
[SFW] [science & technology] [+1 Interesting]
[by midden@1:07pmGMT]

Comments

bobolink said[4] @ 2:00pm GMT on 7th Oct [Score:2]



Bob Denver said @ 6:33pm GMT on 7th Oct [Score:1 Good]
I remember Sputnik and Vanguard and the thrill everyone felt about this new age. I was older and more capable of understanding when Telstar went up (it's still there). We weren't as cynical then:
Telstar : The Tornados
midden said @ 7:44pm GMT on 7th Oct [Score:1 Good]
My grandfather was on the Bell Labs Telstar engineering team. Somewhere I have a commendation plaque awarded to him after launch.
foobar said @ 2:04pm GMT on 7th Oct
Wouldn't it be the second oldest?
Ankylosaur said @ 2:21pm GMT on 7th Oct [Score:1 Informative]
No. Sputnik is no longer a satellite since it has deorbited. So this is now the World's Oldest Scientific Satellite. When it deorbits in 1000 years, a new World's Oldest Scientific Satellite will take its place. The title is a tautology. The King is dead, long live the King!
midden said @ 2:56pm GMT on 7th Oct
Vanguard 1 was actually the fourth successfully launched satellite, after Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and the US's Explorer 1, but it's the oldest one still up there.
robotroadkill said @ 5:44pm GMT on 7th Oct
Also I don't think sputnik had any scientific capabilities. It just produced a pulse to prove it was up there.
Bruceski said @ 5:54pm GMT on 7th Oct [Score:2]
Though some folks at Johns Hopkins realized they could track Sputnik using the doppler shift of those signals and their known position. And then they reversed the equations to create GPS using known satellites and an unknown position. So it kinda became a scientific satellite after the fact,

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