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Solrad 11A
SOLRAD (short for "SOLar RADiation," sometimes presented as "SOLRAD") was an American series of satellites sponsored by the United States Navy, US Navy in a program to continuously monitor the Sun. SOLRAD was the NRL, Naval Research Laboratory's first post-Project Vanguard, Vanguard satellite. Background Until the John F. Kennedy, Kennedy administration, American satellite launches were unclassified. As a result, the United States Air Force and the Navy found themselves in the awkward position of wanting to orbit spy satellites but not reveal their nature to potential enemies. Just as the Air Force elected to pair their capsule film recovery satellites with biological payloads under the Corona (satellite), Discoverer program, so did the Navy develop a scientific cover for its Galactic Radiation and Background, GRAB series of radio/radar surveillance (ELINT) satellites. The field of solar X-ray astronomy lent itself well to such an application. As the Earth's atmosphere absorb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satellite
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scientific research, and Earth observation. Additional military uses are reconnaissance, early warning, signals intelligence and, potentially, weapon delivery. Other satellites include the final rocket stages that place satellites in orbit and formerly useful satellites that later become defunct. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Most satellites also have a method of communication to ground stations, called transponders. Many satellites use a standardized bus to save cost and work, the most popular of which are small CubeSats. Similar satellites can work together as groups, forming constellatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
