What Are Artificial Satellites For?

Artificial satellites are metallic bodies that are orbiting the Earth, and even, in some cases, another planet. These have a great diversity of functions for humanity, since they serve for many things, such as: sending information from one point to another on Earth, keeping GPS signals updated (location signals), allowing the storage of information , know the state of the Earth, see the evolution of Earth phenomena, among other things.

In the case of artificial satellites that orbit other planets, these aim to provide information to humanity about the planet in question. It is important to mention that there are few artificial satellites that orbit other planets, since most are orbiting the Earth, and thanks to them, communications and the transfer of information, it occurs with as much speed and efficiency as can be seen today.

What is the function of an artificial satellite?

The use of artificial satellites has considerably improved the quality of life of people, since they provide a wide variety of benefits to humanity, among which we can mention:

Meteorological studies

These satellites offer very important benefits to the world, since they are mainly responsible for monitoring climate changes that are occurring throughout the Earth. In addition, they are also in charge of monitoring the weather in general and its changes in the long and short term.

This helps scientists a lot, since it allows them to carry out research about climate changes in an easier way, which allows them to predict the weather with really incredible accuracy, this, accompanied by the meteorological tests that are carried out in the Earth, allows you to know when and where a certain phenomenon will occur.

Astronomy

Artificial astronomy satellites or space probes offer one of the most important benefits to humanity, since they not only allow us to see the entire solar system, but also provide large amounts of information to astronomers and scientists in general. In addition, these allow you to view all the stars or bodies that are in your range of vision, which allows you to better understand the cosmos and its operation.

The galaxies, stars, planets, constellations and all the phenomena that occur in space, are investigated by these satellites of great power, thanks to them, humanity increasingly discovers more about all the celestial bodies found in the universe and about the origin of the Earth itself, which although it seems insignificant, is really of the utmost importance, since the more one knows about the origin of the Earth, the easier it will be when it comes to giving answers to some unknowns that still persist in humanity.

Perform navigation

The satellites responsible for offering this benefit to the world are known as the GNSS satellite constellation, they transmit location and positioning signals. This signal is used to track any object that is inside the Earth, be it air, sea or land, however, what this wonder allows, are small objects known as trackers, which are possessed by said vehicles or objects.

This tracking system provides important information to vehicle owners with the tracker, since it allows them to know their location at all times, which is ideal when following a road or route.

Finally, thanks to these satellites, navigation by sea and air is possible, since it is these satellites that are responsible for providing accurate and updated information at all times, to prevent pilots from getting lost, since it allows them to know their location and how much they need to get to their destination.

Communications in general

The most important utility of artificial satellites are communications, because they facilitate communication from one point on Earth to another. For this, artificial satellites work as a kind of medium, which is in charge of receiving the signal from a point A, and then sending it to a point B.

This is something that can be appreciated in many aspects, because satellite signals are found in many areas, such as:

• TV.
• Radio.
• Internet.
• Telecommunications

The reason why satellites are often used, instead of cables, is the speed it takes for the signal to travel from point A to point B. Although it is important to note, this is something that is slowly changing, due to Because conventionally used cables have been improving, which has made the speed of data transmission increase, making it better for some things to use a network of cables, rather than satellites. A clear example of this is the Internet, which is why there are very few services that offer Internet via satellite.

Relevant aspects of artificial satellites

Taking into account the great utility of artificial satellites, it must be understood that there are many aspects to take into account, since maintaining a structure in space is a work of art, which many people ignore. Among the relevant aspects of artificial satellites, the following can be mentioned:

Types of artificial satellites

As mentioned above, artificial satellites can be used for many things, therefore, there are different types of artificial satellites, which are used for certain activities, depending on their characteristics and configuration. Taking this into account, it should be known that the types of artificial satellites that currently exist are the following:

• Weather satellites : used to study the Earth’s climate and track large storms.
• Astronomical satellites : are those used to observe outer space. It should be noted that there are two types of these satellites, those that are probes and are sent into space and those that keep orbiting the earth.
• Attack satellites or anti-satellites : they are weapons, which are used to attack other satellites, parts of the Earth or objects from outer space. Its use is limited only to times of war and few countries have this kind of satellites.
• Biosatellites : they have living organisms inside. In the same way, they can orbit the earth or be sent as species of probes. Its usefulness is twofold, since it allows us to preserve human life in the event of the end of the human race on Earth, as well as to discover more about the effect of space on certain living organisms.
• Communications satellites : it can be said that they are the most common and are the ones that allow communication between a point A and a point B on Earth. All this, quickly and efficiently.
• Mini satellites: they are small satellites, which can have different uses. They are normally sent when their use is going to be limited.
• Navigation satellites : they allow to know the exact location of different objects on Earth, which have a receiver. Thanks to these satellites, there are GPS.
• Reconnaissance satellites : they serve to spy on certain areas of the Earth.

There are other types of satellites and there are even some that are under development, however, these are the best known and used today.

Most important artificial satellites

For more than 7 decades, man began to venture into space and since then, thousands of artificial satellites have been launched into Earth orbit, all this, with different objectives. However, there are some satellites that marked a before and after in history, thus being considered the most important artificial satellites. These satellites are the following:

• Sputnik 1 : this satellite was launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union and is considered one of the most important, because it was the first satellite launched by humanity.
• Location satellites : there really is not a single satellite in this category, there are many, however, they are of the utmost importance, since thanks to these, there are GPS, which allow navigation by air and sea.

Conclusion: Are artificial satellites fundamental to humans?

In conclusion, artificial satellites occupy a very important position today, due to the variety of uses that can be given to them, which is why they become indispensable objects in society due to the important needs they fulfill. However, these also have disadvantages like any other creation of man and the main one is the large amount of space pollution that they generate, which although it is not yet a serious problem, it is very possible that in a few decades it will become a global concern.