How much do you really know about Satellites?

How much do you really know about Satellites?  Other than they help transmit Radio & TV signals back to earth and the fact that almost everyone living knows about the 1st man made Satellite the Russian Sputnik 1.

They have been called Electric Eye's, Sky Spy, etc.  Here are two great songs about Satellites:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhvzMGDzt70
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAamgBPebsk

I don't own any of this media, nor their DRMs, no assertion of ownership is expressed by listing them. Just a fan don't sue me I don't have anything!

This blog refers to Man made Satellites not celestial Satellites (moons or small planets circling other planets)

Position types of Satellites aka orbit selection

• Low Earth orbit - aka LEO used to limit time delay in transmission, positioned over the equator and the further are the less they help  
  • Are you aware that a firm has sent LEO Satellites into orbit to service Blockchain?  I wrote about it a few weeks back - https://www.publish0x.com/quantum-computing-in-bite-size-pieces/are-you-ready-for-crypto-and-quantum-in-space-xelzgjp
• Medium Earth orbit - MEO 6200 - 9400 miles require @ 10 MEO to provide full coverage  
• Geostationary Earth Orbit - GEO below 2000 kilometers (22,400 miles to provide full coverage requires @ 4 Fixed Ground Antenna point directly at them)  

Did you know that most are powered by Xenon gas?

Did you know that the first test using Iodine as a propellant took place in Nov. '21?  Iodine the stuff used to treat wounds. Yeah, did you know that Iodine reacts with most metals? This simple change required the use of ceramics and polymers to protect parts of the propulsion system (no simple task.) In addition, solid iodine takes about 10 minutes to turn into a plasma, which may not provide a propellant quickly enough for emergency maneuvers to avoid an in-orbit collisions. Another hurdle to overcome...  

Importance of Radiation Hardening - Space is field with all kinds of electronic signals and they are very harmful to electronics. The three main types of radiation space gear is protected from:

• The trapped electrons and protons in the radiation belts.
• The protons and heavy ions produced by the Solar Particle Events (SPE).
• The Galactic Cosmic Rays protons and heavy ions.
• If protections are not made the gears life span is dramatically cut down and thus rendering the Satellite potentially non-functional. 

Space Wars - Yep, seems Space drives War innovation too, makes sense as it is the ultimate high ground for overlooking and directly battles.  Now the battles pivot to arming Satellites to destroy other satellites and taking away such a high ground advantage.  Or Here is just one example, over the weekend the Russians launched a missile from Earth and hit one of their own Satellites (on purpose) and destroyed it.  

Open Questions in my mind:

• How will Satellites assist with space travel? 
• How will Satellites help deeper space exploration? 
• Will Satellites be deployed to other planets like Mars to help for inter-planetary exploration missions? - Message relay back to earth, etc.

Summary -   Satellites have become a way to advance human lives here on Earth and potentially even assist space travels.