Check out our feature on Pioneer 10
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Satellites send data back to Earth where tracking stations receive the information for scientists to study. Typically, satellites are powered by solar panels that generate energy from the Sun.
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There are several types of satellites:
Communications Satellites (comsats) used for telephone & television transmissions. They receive info from Earth and redirect it to another place on Earth.
ERTS- (Earth Resources Technology Satellites) used to moniter sea and land. ERTS helps with sea currents, weather and coastline monitering.
SAGE- (Stratospheric Aerosol & Gas Experiment) moniters the ozone layer.
IRAS- (Infra-Red Astronomy Satellite) looks for infra-red radiation from other galaxies.
OSO satellites were launched in 1962 to observe the Sun.
Uhura- was the name of a satellite that was sent up into space in the early '70's. It successfully discovered several binary systems (two star systems) that emitted X-rays, one pair was thought to have a black hole at its centre.
The Pioneer Series of satellites were launched to moniter objects inside our own solar system. The most notable of this series is Pioneer 10.
Copernicus- was a 2.5 ton orbiting observatory satellite which scanned the heavens for ultra-violet light.
COS-B (launched 1975) looks for gamma rays & X-rays.
Exosat (launched 1983) looks for neutron stars.
Hubble Space Telescope (launched in April 1990) -can detect ultra-violet & infra-red waves as well as visable light. Shortly after the launch of Hubble, it was found that one of the two mirrors was .002 millimetre off, making all the images out of focus. In 1993, NASA sent out a team of astronauts to make the adjustments. They were very successful.
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