were used for many things in World War Two. They were used to control weaponry
and other sophisticated electronic devises. They were also used to store massive
amounts of information, plus a whole lot more.
Television, which means to extend or project one's vision, became publicly
known, in America, in 1939 at a worlds fair. In 1940 it went on the public market.
It had been around for at least twenty years minimum before the public knew
about it. It was worked on and produced under government security and not
released to the press until 1939. It went on the public market in 1940, but it was
too expensive for most people to be able to afford one. It wasn't until the late
1950's that the majority of American citizens had one. The television and movie
industry was booming at this time. They had a national market and was making
mass revenue. They were then and still are now, one of the nation's and the
world's foremost leaders in the research and development of high technology.
Technology that has to do with electronics, cameras, audio equipment, sound,
communications, video, computers, film, sciences, and so on, and so on.
In 1957, a Russian scientist put the first satellite in orbit. The satellite was
called Sputnik. Sputnik was equipped with a radio beacon that radioed a signal
back to earth to prove that it was really up there. Before this, attempts were
made to put satellites in outer space, but it wasn't until it was discovered that it
had to be put into an orbit in order for it to stay in outer space. This is what
kicked off the space race. The space race was about the same thing as the arms
race at that time. The first uses and still the major uses of satellites are for
communications relays and aerial recognizance. Most communications satellites
are put into an orbit at twenty-six thousand miles over the equator, above the
earth. These satellites are in an orbit, rotating at the same speed and in the same
direction as the earth. By doing this, the satellites stay over the same area of the
earth at all times.
Recognizance satellites are satellites that take photographs of the earth or
whatever, from outer space. Realistically speaking, if you have a telescope that
can see other planets clearly, you can use it for a lens to take pictures with. In the
beginning, recognizance satellites sent pictures back to earth in two ways. One,
satellites were sent up to take pictures on film, then the satellites had to be
brought down and recovered to develop the pictures and study them. Two,
pictures were sent back by eeewaves and viewed on a television monitor. At that
time it was considered safer and better to take pictures on film instead of radioing
them back, because the pictures on film were clearer and it was thought that the
radio transmissions could be intercepted by other countries. During the 1960's it
was a satellite photo that showed that Cuba was building a missile silo during what
was called the "Cuban missile crisis". As technology grew, it was more expedient to
radio the pictures back, because it was alot faster, the quality of the pictures got
alot better, and they learned how to scramble the signals. All these pictures are
and were totally recorded. They would have to be, in order to study them later
and to insure that nothing was missed. Recognizance satellites are put into orbit
over the equator also. By putting them over the equator, they can monitor the
same area of the earth constantly, but in order to monitor areas not under the
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