space exploration

1. 12.3 SPACE EXPLORATION

2. Earth Based Observation Technology
• Telescope: Instrument used to observe remote objects by
collecting electromagnetic radiation
• (light, radio waves, infrared, ultra violet, x-rays etc.)
• First telescope was made in 1608 by a Dutch eyeglass
maker Hans Lippershey.
• It had a magnifying power of 3 times…

3. • Galileo made many
improvements to the
telescope and is know as
the “father of modern
astronomy” due to his
many contributions.

4. Optical Telescopes
Refracting Optical Telescope
• Use a series of lenses to gather and focus visible light to
produce a magnified image
Reflecting Optical Telescope
• Use mirrors to collect light and project an image to an
eyepiece lens

5. • The largest optical telescope is at the Keck observatory in
Hawaii, with a main mirror 10m in diameter.

6. • An even larger 30m telescope is being built right now in
Hawaii

7. Non-Optical Telescopes
• Many objects in space produce energy in wavelengths
that are not visible to the human eye.
• X-Ray, Radio and Gamma Ray telescopes collect the
electromagnetic radiation and focus it on a receiver where
the data is interpreted as an image

8. Telescope Array
• Telescopes can be electronically linked to produce the
results of a very large telescope

9. Space Based Observation Technology
• Atmosphere, weather, city lights, air pollution and other
environmental factors disrupt telescope observations
• For the last 50 years astronomers have been working to
launch observational tools into space to better collect data
about the universe

10. Satellites
• Satellite: Any object in orbit around another object in
space. (Moons are natural satellites)
• Artificial satellites are launched into orbit for a variety of
purposes
• Communication, GPS, weather monitoring, mapping, monitoring
tectonic activity, TV, etc.
• Satellites that remain above a fixed point on the earth are
in geosynchronous orbit (orbital speed matches Earth)
• About 6,600 satellites have been launched. The latest
estimates are that 3,600 remain in orbit. Of those, about
1,000 are operational.

12. Probes
• Probe: Space vehicle sent to other celestial bodies
• Probes may fly past, orbit or land on planets, moons,
comets and asteroids
• Every planet in our solar system has been visited by a
probe
• Probes collect and transmit data back to Earth

13. Voyager I & II
• Launched in 1977 by NASA
• Original goal was to study Jupiter and Saturn
• Voyager I left our solar system in 2012
• Both are expected to continue travelling until 2020

14. • Both Voyager I & II are carrying
the Golden Record.
• Contains music, sounds and
images representing the planet
Earth and the human race

15. Pale Blue Dot
Photo taken by Voyager I in 1990
Consider again that dot. That's here.
That's home. That's us. On it everyone
you love, everyone you know, everyone
you ever heard of, every human being
who ever was, lived out their lives. The
aggregate of our joy and suffering,
thousands of confident religions,
ideologies, and economic doctrines,
every hunter and forager, every hero
and coward, every creator and destroyer
of civilization, every king and peasant,
every young couple in love, every
mother and father, hopeful child,
inventor and explorer, every teacher of
morals, every corrupt politician, every
"superstar," every "supreme leader,"
every saint and sinner in the history of
our species lived there – on a mote of
dust suspended in a sunbeam
-Carl Sagan

16. Rovers
• Rovers: Robotic vehicles designed to carry out unmanned
exploration missions on other planets

17. Space Travel
• Rocket: System for transporting materials and astronauts
into space

18. • Space Shuttle: Unlike a rocket, a space shuttle is
designed to be reused. Only external fuel tanks are
discarded.
• Shuttle returns to Earth following its mission and lands on
a runway

19. International Space Station
• Launched in 1993
• An orbiting space based laboratory built in space from parts
and materials delivered by space shuttle and rockets.
• Orbits 350 km above at speeds of more than 27 000 km/h,
the space. The station circles Earth in about 90 min.

21. Canadarm 2
• Remote manipulator attached to the International Space
Station.
• Able to assist docking of delivery vehicles and perform
repairs to the exterior of the space station