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Satellites don't get much of a
look in from Future Past-- except as a preliminary step in the first
days of some future space programme. The purpose of satellites
were, at best, to prove that a missile could be sent into orbit.
It was intended to make the first probing examination of the new
frontier; to send the first signals from the Moon or the first proof
that terrestrial animals could live in zero gravity. They were
certainly never intended to handle the workaday jobs of scientific
research, reconnaissance and weather forecasting that they do
today.
How could they? Satellites
rely on electronics and in the '40s and '50s such devices were cranky
and fragile things that needed constant human attention as valves
burned out and relays jammed. That sort of thing could only be
done aboard a proper space station, not an automated platform.
But necessity proved the mother
of invention. As the Space Race progressed, hardware had to be
put into orbit for military and civilian purposes as swiftly as
possible. However, putting payloads into orbit was far more expensive
than anyone imagined-- certainly too expensive to build a manned space
station first thing. That meant that electronics had to be made
smaller, more compact and far more reliable. So, out went the
valves and electromechanical parts and in came transistors, printed
and then integrated circuits, microchips and all the other
paraphernalia of the modern age; giving us ipods, desktop computers,
GPS receivers and the tiresome pitch from NASA about spin-offs every
time the budget comes up for review. |
