Sputnik 1 (/ˈspʌtnɪk, ˈspʊtnɪk/, ‹See Tfd›Russian: Спутник-1, Satellite 1) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. Aerodynamic drag caused it to fall back into the atmosphere on 4 January 1958. The world’s first observation was made at the school observatory in Rodewisch (Saxony).
It was a polished metal sphere 58 cm (23 in) in diameter with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by amateur radio operators, and the 65° orbital inclination made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth.
The satellite’s success was unanticipated by the United States. This precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, part of the Cold War. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The word sputnik is Russian for satellite when interpreted in an astronomical context; its other meanings are spouse or traveling companion.
Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite traveled at a peak speed of about 8 km/s (18,000 mph), taking 96.20 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries depleted on 26 October 1957. On 4 January 1958, after three months in orbit, Sputnik 1 burned up while reentering Earth’s atmosphere, having completed 1,440 orbits of the Earth, and travelling a distance of approximately 70,000,000 km (43,000,000 mi).
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Did you know that danish international soccer player Harald Bohr also invented the theory of almost periodic functions, and had a brother who was a physicist/chemist?
Most efficient way search a sorted list:
Keep two linked lists,
If the current element is less than or equal to the value, add the index to the tail of the first linked list
If the current element is greater than or equal to the value, add tje index to the head of the second linked list
If both linked lists are not empty, then the value is the tail of both linked lists, iterate though one of the linked lists to get the index.
Just saw Megalopolis. It’s like Francis Ford Coppola applied all of his filmmaking skill in the service of a story written by Neil Breen. It has some of the most beautiful cinematography and sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie, but the story and the dialogue is an utter mess. It’s incredible that something like it can exist.
Sputnik changed the world. Being able to put an object into orbit is an incredible engineering challenge. Space is easy. Just go 100Km straight up and you’re in space. It takes some engineering skill, but nothing beyond what a few competent engineering undergrads can and do regularly manage.
Staying in space is the hard part. I don’t know much about guns, but google tells me that a 5.56 rifle round travels roughly at 3500Km/h. To stay in space you need to travel sideways at roughly 28000Km/h minimum. Or in plain english, you need to be eight times faster than a speeding bullet just not to fall out of the sky, to say nothing about getting to more distant places. And you usually need to do that with a massive multi-tonne spacecraft, not just a little bullet. I think that puts into perspective the amount of chemical energy stored in a rocket’s propellant tanks.
But back to Sputnik, what always blows my mind is that the country that first accomplished it had been a technological backwater just forty years earlier. Forty years to go from a dismal literacy rate and barely any industrialization, to accomplishing science and engineering first-of-their-kind marvels that will be forever remembered in history.
I have work in six hours, so why not get excited by my own fantasies of things I’ll probably never get to actually do rather than sleep.
Might get into esoteric knowledge. Mostly because it seems like a cool thing to say, “yeah I’m really into esoteric knowledge”. Is this advisable
Old news, but it’s also a fun fact: Claudia De La Cruz is actually the candidate for two parties. The workers party got her on a state ballot by choosing to nominate the PSL candidate as theirs after gaining ballot access.
half edible do nothing full edible still get me too high (aka cackling my ass off at the Basic Facts of Existence
), what do?
¾ths of an edible next time?
always wondered what that little pocket-within-a-pocket on jeans is for
turns out it’s the perfect size for holding my disposable weed vape
So deeply sick of avoiding people and losing connections or never forming them.
I tapped out of the SMP Live branch-off sphere three years ago, why is ConnorEatsPants playing Fortnite with George Santos and grilling him about Palestine
I’m 100% capping by the way. that’s my fucking streamer. how the hell did this happen
Bookers that book bands at a 12:30 slot are evil because that means they’ll be on at 1 am.
When I hear a lib talk about how scary/worse a trump reelection would be, I have a knee jerk reaction to bring up Biden since he’s currently the president doing terrible things. It comes out like a sneeze, I can’t help it. It makes me side eye them for not being scared. Are their politics really just perception and immaterial? I think the libs in my life think I’m a closet Trump supporter now though.
Hold up, the Silent Hill 2 remake is coming out next week? I’m kind of tempted to try it out since I’ve gotten into psychological horror games over past 2-3 years, but never played the original Silent Hill series. Well… kinda. I did try SH1, but something about the controls just didn’t sit right with me so I ended up not sticking with it for long.
I did try SH1, but something about the controls just didn’t sit right with me
This was my exact experience.
