Engineering the News: satellite technology 

There are definitely two ways in which we engineer the news. The first is considered agenda appropriate where news may be slanted in all sorts of clever and devious ways to fit the narrative of the producers – and the other is the extraordinary effect of technology on how we receive and convey news.

News today travels like wildfire. We are way past the messenger on the reluctant donkey. Today, we are afforded opportunity to literally see the news as it happens. Graphic and immediate, some news reaches us in sharp-edged reality. There is still room for adjustments however, but keeping incidents secret and unwitnessed is becoming increasingly difficult. Technology has opened us up to information, but also overwhelmed us with the amount of facts and figures that have become so easily available – and the culprits for this wonder and wariness, are the engineering geniuses behind the advent of satellites.

Sensational satellites

Satellites have made significant contribution in various fields, including telecommunications, navigation, weather forecasting, scientific research, and national security.

• The development of satellite technology can be traced back to the mid-twentieth century, when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957. This marked the beginning of a new era in which orbiting spacecraft could be used for communication, navigation, and scientific research.
• Satellites are typically classified based on their orbital altitude and function. The most commonly used satellites are geostationary and low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Geostationary satellites orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km and are primarily used for communication, broadcasting, and weather forecasting. LEO satellites orbit at an altitude of 2,000 km or less and are used for various applications, such as remote sensing, navigation, and scientific research.
• One of the most significant contributions of satellite technology is in the field of telecommunications. Communication satellites allow for global communication by providing a network of signals used to transmit voice, video, and data across the world. This has revolutionised communication and made it possible for people to communicate with each other in real-time, regardless of location.
• Another significant contribution is in the field of navigation. Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites provide accurate location information that can be used for navigation and positioning – thus revolutionising the way we navigate and making it possible for us to accurately locate our positions in cities, countries and particularly at sea – and assisting us to navigate with assurance to and new and different locations.
• Satellites are extremely important in the field of weather forecasting. Weather satellites provide real-time images and data that can be used to predict weather patterns and provide early warnings for severe weather events such as hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. This vital function has helped save lives by providing advance warnings to people living in areas likely to be affected by severe weather events.
• Satellites, working from their superb positions as ‘eyes in the sky’ have been able to contribute notably to scientific research by providing data on various phenomena such as climate change, natural disasters, and space exploration. Satellites are also used to study the earth's atmosphere, oceans, and landmasses, providing valuable information that has been used to vastly improve our understanding of the planet.

Not only does our news come to us from these canny engineering designs, but they have given us the knowledge to do better for our planet, to travel with greater safety, and improve the quality of life across the world by extending our experience and awareness of problems that people face, and the solutions that can be devised.

Our world is now built around the value of data. Satellites, and the engineers that design and evolve their capabilities, have given us the key to extraordinary levels of global interaction, opening exciting new vistas for exploration, connection and human advancement.

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