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Something New Under the Sun

Satellites and the Beginning of the Space Age

  • Book
  • © 1998

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Authors:
  1. Helen Gavaghan
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Table of contents (22 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Prologue The Seed

    1. Prologue: The Seed

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 1-6

    2. New Moon

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 7-20

    3. Cocktails and the Blues

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 21-30

    4. Follow That Moon

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 31-42

    5. The Space Age

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 43-46

  3. Navigation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 47-47
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    2. Polaris and Transit

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 49-57

    3. Heady Days

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 58-72

    4. Pursuit of Orbit

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 73-81

    5. From Sputnik II to Transit

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 82-90

    6. Kershner’s Roulette

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 91-104

    7. The Realities of Space Exploration

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 105-118

    8. Move Over,Sputnik

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 119-125

  4. Meteorology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 127-127
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    2. A Time of Turbulence

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 129-139

    3. The Bird’s-Eye View

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 140-148

    4. Keep it Simple, Suomi

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 149-162

    5. Storm Patrol

      • Helen Gavaghan
      Pages 163-168

  5. Communications

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Something New Under the Sun

  • Book Subtitle: Satellites and the Beginning of the Space Age

  • Authors: Helen Gavaghan

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1618-6

  • Publisher: Copernicus New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 1998

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-94914-7Published: 07 November 1997

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4612-7218-2Published: 17 October 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-1618-6Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 300

  • Topics: Communications Engineering, Networks, Astronomy, Observations and Techniques, Astrophysics and Astroparticles

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