Civilian satellites
 The space age was introduced 4th October 1957 by the Soviet Union launching of Sputnik 1. The news hit like a bombshell in large parts of the world. Here you may read about the space race between the former Soviet Union and the USA.
Do you know how many satellites there are orbiting round the world? Who owns these satellites and how useful do you think they are?
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The space race
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The news of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 hit like a bombshell in large parts of the world. The superpower in the East had certainly already given several signals that they were working on a satellite project.
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How many satellites have been launched?
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From Sputnik 1 and up to the year 2001 altogether more than 5000 satellites have been launched. But many of these satellites have later been burned up in the atmosphere. At the end of May 2001 there were still exactly 2729 satellites in orbit round the Earth.
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Communication satellites
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Radio waves run in straight lines and cannot follow the curves of the Earth. This means that a radio or TV receiver cannot catch signals from a transmitter that is below the horizon.
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Navigation satellites
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Navigation is about finding out where on the surface of the Earth you are or finding the way from where you are to another point on the Earth. The word "navigate" arrives from Latin navis, which means "ship" and agare, which means to "move forwards". When you have found out where you are on this globe, we say you have found your position.
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Earth observation satellites
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Earth observation means today to observe the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere by means of instruments placed on board a satellite. We call such satellites Earth observation satellites.
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Geodetic satellites
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In addition to observing the weather and the vegetation, these satellites are able to survey even small changes in the landscape and the form of the Earth.
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Research satellites
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A researcher is usually somebody who, after many years of studies, has become absorbed in a limited special field of study. A research satellite is then, a satellite equipped in such a way so that it is possible to make measurements that the researcher may take advantage of.
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