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In this, the first history of artifical satellites and their uses, Helen Gavaghan shows how the idea of putting an object in orbit around the earth changed from science fiction to indespensible technology in the twinkling of an eye. Thanks to satellites, we can now send data and images anywhere in the world in an instant. The satellite-based navigational system can pinpoint your exact location anywhere in the world; it is so precise that, from outer space, it can detect the sag on an airplane's wing. Focusing on three major areas of development - navigational satellites, communications, and weather observation and forecasting - Gavaghan tells the remarkable inside story of how obscure men and women, often laboring under strict secrecy, made the extraordinary scientific and technological discoveries needed to make these miracles happen. Written by a science journalist with support from the Sloane Foundation, the book describes the birth of the modern scientific era in the twentieth century, with creation of satellite technology. The narrative is part history - beginning with the Russian-U.S. contest with the launch of Sputnik; part politics, as scientists and visionary engineers compete for scarce funding that will bring their dreams to reality; partly the story of the singular and fascinating individuals who were present at the creation of our modern technological era.
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Something New Under the Sun Helen Gavaghan Something New Under the Sun Satellites and the Beginning of the Space Age C S P R I N G E R SCIENCE+BUSINESS M E D I A , L L C © 1 9 9 8 Springer Science+Business M e d i a N e w Y o r k Originally published by Springer-Verlag N e w York, Inc. i n 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 A l l rights reserved. N o part o f this publication may be reproduced, stored i n a retrieval system, or transmitted, i n any f o r m or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, w i t h o u t the p r i o r written permission o f the publisher. Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gavaghan, H e l e n . Something n e w under the sun : satellites and the beginning o f the space age / H e l e n Gavaghan. p. cm. Includes index. I S B N 978-1-4612-7218-2 I S B N 978-1-4612-1618-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-1618-6 1. Artificial satellites—History. civilization. 2. Astronautics and I. Title. TL796.G38 1997 629.43'09—dc21 96-48689 CIP Manufactured i n the U n i t e d States o f A m e r i c a . P r i n t e d o n acid-free paper. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 I S B N 978-1-4612-7218-2 Constance and James Gavaghan Preface When the story of our age comes to be told, we will be remem· bered as the first of all men to set their sign among the stars. -Arthur C Clarke. The Making of a Moon, 1957 A new age was dawning, in which the organized brain power for military and civilian science and technology was the dearest national asset. -Walter McDougall .... the Heavens and the Earth: a political history of the space age. 1985. W hen the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation decided to sponsor a series of histories of technology in the 1990s, they asked for proposals about technologies that have had a significant impact on the twentieth century. For some years, I had written news and features about space and had been hooked by the glamour of space exploration. Which aspect of the field would, I wondered, best fit into the Sloan's proposed series? It seemed to me that the answer was navigation, weather, and communications satellites-that is, so-called application satellites. The National Academy of Engineering has said that of all the technological achievements of the second half