Many of the advances in technology developed for space exploration can also be used for our benefit here on Earth. Anything that does this is called a ‘space application’.
Satellite communication
Satellite communication is probably the biggest space application. The first communication satellite was Telstar, launched in 1962 - now there are more than 500 satellites, delivering telephone, radio, television and data services. Over 100 observation satellites look at the Earth using instruments that give us information on weather, climate, the environment and natural resources. In fact, there are so many satellites in orbit around Earth, it’s a full time job tracking them all.
Satellite navigation
Satellite navigation was originally developed for the military. Today, ‘satnav’ is commonplace as a navigation tool in cars and is available to anyone. However it still uses American military satellites called global positioning satellites or GPS.
Space applications are big business - in 2004-2005 UK space applications companies had a turn-over of £5 billion, while companies providing space technology had a turn-over of £725 million.
Spin-offs
Space technology enhances many aspects of everyday life on Earth. Certain examples are well known, such as the Fisher space pen which is used on American and Russian space missions. This pen uses pressurised ink cartridges and writes in zero gravity, upside down and in extreme temperature ranges. Astronauts are not allowed to use a pencil because, if it breaks, the tip may damage electrical equipment.
Some spin-offs are much less widely known. For example, the batteries in mobile phones and music players were originally developed by a British space company. Other inventions, though popularly believed to have come from space technology, actually did not. For example, NASA used Teflon cloth and Teflon-coated fibres in its spacesuits, but the material had been invented some years before in 1938. Space technology is used in many modern products which make our lives safer and more efficient.
|
|
