分類：天文氣象

Sputnik 1! 7 Fun Facts About Humanity’s First Satellite

Sputnik 1! 7 Fun Facts About Humanity’s First Satellite
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | October 2, 2017 06:20pm ET

Photo Credit: vitazheltyakov, CC BY-NC-ND
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Introduction

The first-ever artificial satellite took to the skies on Oct. 4, 1957.

The launch of that craft, the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1, kicked off the space age and the Cold War space race, the latter of which peaked when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the moon in July 1969.

Here are a few fun facts you may not know about Sputnik 1 and its brief but world-changing mission.  [Sputnik 1, Earth’s First Artificial Satellite (Photos)]

Sputnik 1 was the size of a beach ball

Sputnik 1 weighed 184 lbs. (83 kilograms) and was 23 inches (58 centimeters) wide. (This measure refers to the satellite’s body; Sputnik 1 also featured two double-barreled antennas, the larger of which was 12.8 feet, or 3.9 meters, long.)

So, the satellite was quite small compared to the spacecraft of today, such as NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter, which was about the size of a school bus. But lofting something as heavy as Sputnik 1 was quite a feat in October 1957. Two months later, the United States tried to launch its first satellite — the 3.5-lb. (1.6 kg) Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 (TV3) — and failed.

The Soviet Union had been aiming bigger

Soviet space officials had wanted the nation’s first satellite to be much bigger than a beach ball. The original plan called for lofting a nearly 3,000-lb. (1,400 kg) craft outfitted with a variety of scientific instruments.

But development of this satellite, code-named “Object D,” progressed more slowly than expected, and Soviet officials grew increasingly worried that the United States might beat them to space. So, they decided to precede the launch of Object D with a “simplest satellite,” or “prosteishy sputnik” in Russian. Indeed, Sputnik 1 was also known as PS-1, Anatoly Zak noted at RussianSpaceWeb.com. (The literal translation of “sputnik,” by the way, is “traveling companion.”)

Sputnik 1 carried no scientific instruments. However, researchers did learn some things about Earth’s atmosphere by studying the beep-beep-beep radio signals emitted by the satellite.

The hulking Object D reached orbit as Sputnik 3 in May 1958, six months after Sputnik 2, which famously lofted a dog named Laika.

Sputnik 1 came perilously close to suffering the same fate as the United States’ TV3 satellite, which was destroyed in a launch failure on Dec. 6, 1957.

Sputnik 1 was lofted by an R-7 rocket, which consisted of four first-stage boosters — known as Blocks B, V, G and D — strapped onto a core second stage (Block A). During the launch, the Block G booster’s main engine reached its intended thrust levels later than expected.

“As a result, 6.5 seconds after the launch, the rocket started to pitch, deviating around 1 degree from the nominal trajectory 8 seconds after the liftoff,” Zak wrote. “In the effort to correct the increasing pitch angle, steering engines No. 2 and [No.] 4 on the core stage rotated as much as 8 degrees; similar engines on strap-on boosters of Block V and D rotated as much as 17-18 degrees, while tail air rudders rotated 10 degrees.

“Only a split second remained, after which the flight control system would terminate the flight of the underpowered rocket,” he added. “Fortunately, the engine finally reached normal performance, and [the] rocket fully returned to nominal trajectory some 18-20 seconds after the liftoff.”

Sputnik 1 eventually settled into an elliptical orbit, which took the satellite as close to Earth’s surface as 142 miles (228 kilometers) and as far away as 588 miles (947 km). The satellite zipped around Earth every 96 minutes.

Its mission was brief

Sputnik 1 was powered by three silver-zinc batteries, which were designed to operate for two weeks. The batteries exceeded expectations, as the satellite continued sending out its radio signal for 22 days.

The spacecraft continued lapping Earth in silence for a few more months, its orbit decaying and sending the craft steadily closer to the planet. The satellite finally burned up in the atmosphere on Jan. 4, 1958.

Photo Credit: Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty

Most Sputnik spotters actually saw its rocket

Though Sputnik 1 was small, it was quite reflective and therefore visible from Earth through a pair of binoculars (and perhaps even with the naked eye, if you had good vision and knew exactly where to look).

Many people reported seeing the satellite overhead in late 1957, but experts think most of these sightings actually involved the R-7. The rocket’s 85-foot-long (26 m) core stage also reached orbit, and it was covered with reflective panels to make tracking it easier. This rocket body fell back to Earth on Dec. 2, 1957, according to Zak.

Sputnik 1 led to the creation of NASA and DARPA

The launch of Sputnik 1 famously shook the United States.

“As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world’s attention and the American public off guard,” NASA historians wrote in 2007, in a piece marking the milestone’s 50-year anniversary. “Its size was more impressive than Vanguard’s intended 3.5-lb. payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets’ ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S.”

Such worries didn’t dissipate after the U.S. launched its first successful satellite, Explorer 1, on Jan. 31, 1958. American officials took several measures to boost the nation’s technological capabilities. These included creating the Advanced Research Projects Agency (later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA) in February 1958 and NASA in October of that year. (NASA’s precursor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, had been around since 1915.)

The satellite inspired the world ‘beatnik’

Sputnik 1’s huge cultural impact can be seen in the spate of “nik” neologisms its launch spurred, a few of which remain in use today. “Peacenik” is one well-known example, but the most famous is undoubtedly “beatnik,” which San Francisco newspaper columnist Herb Caen coined in 1958. (And beatnik, in turn, sparked another coinage — “neatnik.”)

Though Sputnik 1 raised “nik” to prominence in the U.S., the launch didn’t actually introduce the suffix — which is roughly equivalent to “er” in English — into the American lexicon; select Russian and Yiddish words had already done that. The term “no-goodnik,” for example, has been around since at least 1936, according to Merriam-Webster.com.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+.

NASA衛星偵測發現 全球碳排放急遽上升

NASA衛星偵測發現 全球碳排放急遽上升
2017-10-13 22:32中央社 邁阿密12日綜合外電報導

軌道碳觀測衛星2號數據指出全球碳排放急遽上升，尤其是在冬季。圖為德國蓋爾森基興火...
軌道碳觀測衛星2號數據指出全球碳排放急遽上升，尤其是在冬季。圖為德國蓋爾森基興火力發電廠排出的濃煙。美聯社

「科學」（Science）期刊援引環繞地球運行的NASA衛星數據指出，全球碳排放急遽上升，尤其是在冬季。

法新社報導，這枚美國國家航空暨太空總署（NASA）2014年發射的衛星，被命名為軌道碳觀測衛星2號（Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2）。

它的任務為監測二氧化碳這種因燃燒化石燃料而產生的主要溫室氣體，在地球系統中如何移動，以及二氧化碳長期變化情形。

這篇論文指出：「數據顯示，在北半球隨著季節改變，碳循環出現驚人的變化。在春天，植物會大量吸收二氧化碳；然而，到了冬季，植物吸收的二氧化碳量降到最低，且植物分解或腐化也產生二氧化碳排放到大氣中。」

論文表示，碳循環伴隨著中國、歐洲和美國東南部燃燒化石燃料的持續碳排放，使北半球碳排放量在4月達到高峰。

另一研究發現，被稱為「聖嬰現象」（El Nino）的海洋暖化現象，在熱帶造成遠多於往年的碳排放量。

聖嬰現象是導致太平洋海面溫度和氣壓波動的氣候模式，每次可能持續數年之久。

研究指出，2015年的聖嬰現象導致「較2011年增加25億噸的二氧化碳排放到大氣中」。

這份研究說：「南美洲較少降雨加上非洲氣溫上升，可能是（這項變化）的關鍵導因。」

在亞洲的熱帶區域，碳排放增加大部分是由於使用生質燃料。

科學家警告，預計在21世紀末，氣候變遷將造成南美洲降雨較少及非洲氣溫上升，導致傳統上由於吸收大量碳排放，被當做使用化石燃料緩衝的熱帶區域，二氧化碳排放情形愈加惡化。

卡努共伴效應發威 吳德榮：總雨量恐超過一般颱風！

卡努共伴效應發威 吳德榮：總雨量恐超過一般颱風！
2017年10月13日 11:15 中時電子報／尉遲佩玉

別小看共伴效應 專家：總雨量恐比颱風還大
卡努颱風路徑潛勢預報。(圖取自中央氣象局)

今年第20號颱風「卡努」昨晚形成，雖對台灣不會造成直接影響，但專家提醒，其共伴效應帶來的降雨，可能不輸颱風。

氣象專家吳德榮在老大洩天機指出，昨晚到今天清晨4點40分，東北風加上地形因素，宜蘭縣大同鄉已有479毫米的雨量；根據中央氣象局資料，目前單日累積雨量，前3名也都在宜蘭縣。

依氣象局颱風潛勢預測圖來看，「卡努」將通過呂宋島北部、進入南海，並繼續增強，其外圍環流與東北風「共伴效應」及地形因素，東半部將有暴降雨，總雨量常超過一般颱風，但因沒有發布「颱風警報」常被忽視，因此更容易釀成災害，提醒民眾不能掉以輕心。

所謂「共伴效應」的降雨，是指其外圍環流向北輸送暖濕空氣，遭遇相對冷乾的東北風，形成滯留鋒；又受地形的抬升，帶來強降水且持續時間長，為東半部帶來大量降雨。

吳德榮表示，今、明兩天受「共伴效應」影響，北部、東半部明顯降雨；尤其東半部（宜、花、東）更有大量降雨，總雨量將超過一般的颱風，應嚴加防範。北部、東半部氣溫下降，天氣轉涼。中南部受中央山脈屏障，影響較小，但仍有局部短暫陣雨。週日北部天氣先好轉，中南部降雨也將減緩，東半部仍有較大雨勢。下週一颱風遠離、天氣好轉，氣溫回升。

(中時電子報)