The first satellite was launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union named Sputnik 1. Currently the are thousands of satellites that have been launched into orbit around the Earth. These satellites originate from more than 50, with ten nations that have satellite launching capabilities. Currently there are a few hundred satellites the are operational, while the rest of the unused satellites orbit the earth as space debris. Not all satellites orbit earth, but some have been sent out to other bodies and planets. Satellites have been sent to the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Satellites can be classified by their specific function since they are launched into space to do a specific job. The type of satellite that is launched to monitor cloud patterns would be used by a weather station, is different that a satellite launched to send television signals across the world. Each Satellite is designed specifically to to fulfill its role. There are nine different types of satellites:

• Astronomy Satellites- It is basically a really big telescope that is floating around in space. With its orbit above earth, the satellites vision is not clouded by the gases that make up the earths atmosphere. Therefore astronomy satellites can see into space up to ten times better than a telescope of similar strength on Earth.

• Atmospheric Study Satellites- Atmospheric study satellites were some of the very first satellites launched into space. Generally the have pretty low earth orbits, so that they can study the Earth's atmosphere.

• Communications Satellites- Communication satellites allow radio, television, and telephone transmissions to be sent live anywhere in the world. Before communication satellites, transmissions were difficult or impossible at long distances. These signals travel in straight line, so they can be sent instantaneously into space and be redirected to another satellite or directly to their destination. Communication satellites at a high altitude orbit.

• Navigational Satellites- Satellites used for navigational purposes were developed in the 1950s. They were originally made as a result to direct ships, allowing them to know exactly where they were at any given time. Today most navigation systems use time and distance to determine location.
  

• Reconnaissance Satellites- These satellites are used to spy on other countries, as they provide intelligence information on the military activities of foreign countries. Reconnaissance Satellites can even detect missile launches or nuclear explosions in space, and pict up and record radio and radar transmissions while passing over a country.

• Remote Sensing Satellites- These satellites are used for sensing, observing and measuring our environment from a distance. They are usually put into space to monitor resources important for humans, such as animal migration, locate mineral deposits, watch agricultural crops for weather damage, or to see how fast forests are being cut down.

• Search and Rescue Satellites- Satellites can also be used to safe lives also. Search and rescue satellites are designed to provide a way for vessels at sea and in the air, to communicate from remote areas. These satellites can detect and locate emergency beacons carried by ships, air crafts, or individuals in remote or dangerous places.

• Space Exploration Satellites- Space exploration satellites are not really satellites at all, they are more properly known as space probes. Space probes travel deep into the solar system, and on their journeys these space probes send back detailed pictures and other data of faraway planets and other stellar phenomena. They are responsible for many of astronomers most important achievements, such as the discovery of Jupiter's rings.

• Weather Satellites- Weather satellites technology and communications satellite technology allows you to be able to find out the weather anywhere in the world any time of the day. Most television stations that carry satellites, such as Meteorologists who use weather satellites for many things.  Weather satellites have many uses such as, Radiation measurements from the earth's surface and atmosphere give information on amounts of heat and energy being released from the Earth and the Earth's atmosphere. People who fish for a living can find out valuable information about the temperature of the sea from measurements that satellites make. Satellites monitor the amount of snow in winter, the movement of ice fields in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the depth of the ocean. Infrared sensors on satellites examine crop conditions, areas of deforestation and regions of drought. Some satellites have a water vapour sensor that can measure and describe how much water vapour is in different parts of the atmosphere. Satellites can detect volcanic eruptions and the motion of ash clouds. During the winter, satellites monitor freezing air as it moves south towards Florida and Texas, allowing weather forecasters to warn growers of upcoming low temperatures. Satellites receive environmental information from remote data collection platforms on the surface of the Earth. These include transmitters floating in the water called buoys, gauges of river levels and conditions, automatic weather stations, stations that measure earthquake and tidal wave conditions, and ships. This information, sent to the satellite from the ground, is then relayed from the satellite to a central receiving station back on Earth.

 

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