[astronomyed] "Planetary Wonderings" October 2007
- From: Mary-Frances Bartels <ki0dz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: astronomyed@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:28:55 -0400
*Planetary Wonderings*
*October Focus: Sputnik --- 50^th Anniversary*
*By Mary-Frances Bartels, NASA Solar System Ambassador
*
This month marks the 50^th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the
first manmade object to reach outer space. In a world whose very
existence, it seems, depends heavily on hundreds, if not thousands, of
complex artificial satellites, it can be difficult to get excited over
the launch of a 183 lb. "basketball" that could only transmit "beep,
beep, beep" so long ago. First, read a brief history of the project:
The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific
Unions established July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the
International Geophysical Year (IGY)
<http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/igy.html>. Two years later, the
council adopted a resolution calling for mapping satellites to be
launched during the IGY. In September 1955, the Naval Research
Laboratory's Vanguard <http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/TOC.html>
proposal was chosen to represent the U.S. during the IGY.
The USSR's Sputnik launch on October 4, 1957 changed everything. This
technical feat caught the world off-guard. Its size was more impressive
than Vanguard's intended 3.5-pound payload. Additionally, the launch
fueled the American public's Cold War fears and brought it into
everyone's living room. A month later the Soviets launched Sputnik II,
carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika. The Space
Race was on, and the Soviets decidedly were in the lead!
On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States
successfully launched Explorer I. This satellite carried a small
scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation
belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van
Allen. The Explorer program continued as a successful ongoing series of
lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.
The Sputnik event changed the future of the world. It led to the
creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a year
later. It also led to the beginning of the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA) which developed a primitive computer networking protocol
ARPAnet, ancestor to today's internet. Other direct results of the
Sputnik launch are too numerous to note here.
Partially in honor of Sputnik, in 1999 the UN declared each October 4 --
10 World Space Week. This year's emphasis is *50 Years in Space. *More
info may be found at http://www.spaceweek.org/ .
*Resource of the Month:* In 1957 there was just Sputnik. Today there
are thousands of satellites. Find out where and when you can see some
of them at www.heavens-above.com <http://www.heavens-above.com/>.
Heavens-Above lists the most popular ones such as the International
Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, and even ham radio satellites.
Others are available upon request.
*Activity of the Month:* Celebrate the Sputnik anniversary, as a
family if possible! Learn what life was like 50 years ago, and talk
about what you think life will be like 50 years from now. Build and fly
model rockets. Kits are available from most hobby stores. Visit the
Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta
(http://ohiohistory.org/places/armstron ). Learn more about satellites
at http://thetech.org/exhibits/online/satellite . Listen to a portion
of Sputnik's transmission at http://tinyurl.com/377f8m . Make a phone
call, program a trip on your car's GPS, check the weather, use an ATM,
find overhead images of your house---none of these things would be
possible without the many satellites orbiting Earth 50 years after
primitive Sputnik led the way. Lastly, check out the following events:
In the presence of Russian dignitaries, watch the annual restaging of
the Wright brothers' 1905 demonstration flight at Huffman Prairie Flying
Field near Dayton on Oct. 5. Dayton Aviation Heritage Foundation
<http://www.bizjournals.com/search/results.html?Ntk=All&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntt=%22Dayton%20Aviation%20Heritage%20Foundation%22>
invited the Russians to visit Ohio during the Sputnik anniversary. In
celebration, Russia's ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov, and
space attaché Yevgeny Zvedra will visit the Armstrong Air and Space
Museum in Wapakoneta, the University of Dayton, and attend a gala event
at Carillon Park on Oct. 4.
Those willing to drive a couple of hours may join Shannon Murphy, Solar
System Ambassador, for a special event at the Sherzer Observatory in
Ypsilanti, MI on the 4^th . See
http://www.physics.emich.edu/astrclub/index.htm .
Adventurers can drive about six hours and visit Coalwood, WV's annual
October Sky Festival featuring "all the Rocket Boys" as well as former
astronaut Bill Readdy on Oct. 6. For more info see
http://www.coalwoodwestvirginia.com/october_sky_festival.htm .
Suggestions, questions, and comments about "Planetary Wonderings" are
welcomed and may be directed to stargazer @ keeplookingup.net (remove
spaces). Past columns may be found at www.keeplookingup.net
<http://www.keeplookingup.net/> (click on "Planetary Wonderings" on the
right side of opening screen).
*Remember to /keep looking up!/*
*/ /*
Sources (not already mentioned): http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2007/08/27/daily9.html
* *
--
M R Bartels ki0dz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(((#))) ^ ^
http://www.qsl.net/ki0dz Central Ohio | ^ - ^
Watkins Products www.watkinsonline.com #092389 ------- (o o)
Internet $9.99/month --- Free trial |ooOoo| >{ | }<
^ http://continue.to/internet ------- RRR)*
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