Inventions

A solar furnace can reach temperatures of over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius) by concentrating sunlight using mirrors or lenses. At these high temperatures, materials can be melted, vaporized, or used for industrial processes like metal smelting.

The first candles were found in China around 200 BC, and were made from whale fat. Paraffin, which is the waxy substance used for candles today, was first distilled in 1830.

The first successful space rocket, capable of reaching the edge of space, was the German V-2 rocket developed by Wernher von Braun and his team during World War II. It was later used by the United States in their rocket program.

The question should probably read "What do waves have to do with satellites". Assuming you're asking about the communication satellites in orbit around the earth, the signals that send the information to the satallites and back to the earth are called radio waves or micro waves. This looks like it will explain the concept. http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/exhibit/exhibit.php?taid=&id=159265&lid=1&seq=11&view=

Objects in near Earth orbit experience some drag from the from from the atmosphere. (Mind you, it would take a very sensitive instrument to measure atmospheric pressure at 60 miles up.) The answer to the question is that given enough time, the drag will cause the satellite to lose so much momentum that it will crash into Earth. The most famous example of this was Skylab which was launched into orbit in 1973 and burned up in the atmosphere in 1979.

The history of the rocket can be traced back to the invention of gunpowder in Ancient China, as the availability of gunpowder to propel projectiles was a precursor to the development of the first solid rocket.

Ninth century Taoist Alchemists discovered black powder while searching for the elixer of life; this accidental discovery led to experiments as weapons such as bomb, cannons, incendiary fire arrows and rocket-propelled fire arrows. The discovery of gunpowder was probably the product of centuries of alchemical experimentation.

Exactly when the first flights of rockets occurred is contested. A common claim is that the first recorded use of a rocket in battle was by the Chinese in 1232 against the Mongol hordes at Kai Feng Fu. This is based on an old Mandarin civil service examination question which reads "Is the defense of Kai Feng Fu against the Mongols (1232) the first recorded use of cannon?". Another question from the examinations read "Fire-arms began with the use of rockets in the dynasty of Chou (B. C. 1122-255)--in what book do we first meet with the word p'ao, now used for cannon?".

The first reliable scholarly reference to rockets in China occurs in the Ko Chieh Ching Yuan (The Mirror of Research) which states that in 998 A.D. a man named Tang Fu invented a rocket of a new kind having an iron head. There were reports of fire arrows and 'iron pots' that could be heard for 5 leagues (25 km, or 15 miles) when they exploded upon impact, causing devastation for a radius of 600 meters (2,000 feet), apparently due to shrapnel. The lowering of the iron pots may have been a way for a besieged army to blow up invaders. The fire arrows were either arrows with explosives attached, or arrows propelled by gunpowder, such as the Korean Hwacha.

Less controversially, one of the earliest devices recorded that used internal-combustion rocket propulsion, was the 'ground-rat,' a type of fireworks recorded in 1264 as having frightened the Empress-Mother Kung Sheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong

Subsequently, one of the earliest texts to mention the use of rockets was the Huolongjingm written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text also mentioned the use of the first known multistage rocket, the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), used mostly by the Chinese navy

Various version of this kind of rocket were used as weapons and fireworks until in the early twentieth century. Robert Goddard created and launched the first liquid fueled rocket on March 16, 1926. This was the origin of rocketry as we know it today. For this he is called the father of modern rocketry.

The first rocket to reach space was the German V2, created largely by Wernher von Braun to deliver bombs during World War 2. It was launched October 3, 1942

The first rocket to carry a human into space was Soyuz, which carried the Vostok 1 spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin.

Robots can gather information through various sensors such as cameras, microphones, infrared sensors, and tactile sensors. These sensors collect data from the robot's environment, which is then processed by the robot's internal systems to make decisions or take actions. Additionally, robots can also receive information from external sources via wireless communication or internet connectivity.

The space suit was invented by a team of engineers at the International Latex Corporation (ILC) in 1961. It was developed to protect astronauts during spacewalks and other extravehicular activities in space.

In England bayberry wax was refined for use in making candles. The earliest dipped candles were made of tallow. Not until the early 1800's was paraffin made to replace tallow as the main ingredient for candlemaking.
A form of candles were used in China as early as 300 BC. Professional candle makers began plying that trade in 13th century Europe.

The first space shuttle, Columbia, was the first shuttle launched into space on April 12, 1981. Prior to this, the shuttle Enterprise had performed flights to test various capabilities of the shuttle within earth's atmosphere. Enterprise was not designed for space flight.

The Hubble Space Telescope was not invented by a single person. It was a collaborative effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency, astronomers, engineers, and many other scientists. The telescope was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble, known for his work on the expansion of the universe.

The first satellite, Sputnik 1, was invented in the Soviet Union by a team of scientists and engineers led by Sergei Korolev. It was launched on October 4, 1957, marking the beginning of the space age.

ORIGINS

No one person ever "invents" or builds a spacecraft; it is a collaboration of individuals, companies, governments, etc., over a period of many years.

Like all NASA projects, HST began many years ago as a scientific proposal that eventually found its way into creation as a scientific instrument, spacecraft, probe, satellite, etc. Though it typically takes 3-5 years for a project to be completed once the Design Reviews are performed, the engineering designs and other key elements that bring a project to life begins years before actual manufacturing work is begun.

The Hubble Telescope can trace its origins to 1946, when noted astronomer Lyman Spitzer ("Father of the Space Telescope") wrote his paper entitled "Astronomical Advantages of an Extraterrestrial Observatory". Spitzer (NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is named for him) pushed many years of his career for the development of a space based observatory, and in 1965 he was appointed head of a committee with the task of defining the parameters and objectives for an orbiting observatory.

FIRST SPACE OBSERVATORIES

Space-based observatories are hardly novel - the first observatory was launched in 1962 by NASA was the Orbiting Solar Observatory, which gathered X-ray, UV, and Gamma Ray data), and the British launched their own orbiting solar observatory around the same time. In 1966, NASA launched the first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO), whose battery failed after only 3 days. Its successor, OAO-2, launched in 1968, was much different however; it continued to operate and send UV data on stars and galaxies until 1972, well past its project life of 1 year.

ADVANTAGES OF SPACE-BASED OBSERVATORIES

Aside from the obvious advantage of not being hindered by filtering problems due to Earth's atmosphere, space observatories can view any part of the universe it's pointed at; ground based observatories are limited to the area of sky they can view because they're on a fixed point on the Earth's surface, and can only view a limited amount of the sky in its area of vision as it rotates. While modern ground telescopes have claimed to now have better resolution capability than Hubble, what they fail to mention is that the algorithms and technology used to gain those advances were largely due to technology developed for Hubble and other space observatories.

HUBBLE BIRTH

The ultimate success of the OSO/OAO programs and the data they produced convinced many in the scientific community that there were huge benefits to be gained from a space-based observatory, and in 1968 NASA began firm plans to design and build an observatory provisionally known as either the Large Orbiting Telescope (LOS) or Large Space Telescope (LST), with a provisional launch date in 1979. NASA always gives a project an initial name; as the project comes to life, it will often rename it for a specific person who made key contributions to the area of study the instrument or satellite is focusing on.

For the next 10 years the project languished in the government funding quagmire; though there were major lobbying efforts and strong support for LST by the scientific community, Congress wasn't as eager to give up the money required for such a bold venture, and budget cuts and changes eventually led to NASA collaborating with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the project. The ESA agreed to help fund the project, provide solar arrays and one of the first instruments, in exchange for a guarantee of at least 15% observation time for its scientists. The ESA also provided personnel to assist in the construction of the LST.

Construction finally began in the late '70's, with 2 key NASA Centers having overall responsibility; Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland (ground and scientific instrument control), and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama (design, development & construction). Perkin-Elmer was given the contract by MSFC to build the large mirror (Optical Telescope Array) and the LST's Fine Guidance Sensors (responsible for precise positioning of the telescope during observations), and aerospace giant Lockheed was given the task of building the spacecraft required to house all of the instruments and support systems. I still remember seeing it being constructed in 1984 at MSFC - little did I know then that in 7 years I'd be working on it for GSFC.

LARGE SPACE TELESCOPE RENAMED

In 1983, NASA formally renamed the Large Space Telescope the Hubble Space Telescope, in honor of American Astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953), who made the key discovery that the universe is in fact expanding, and demonstrated that other galaxies exist besides the Milky Way. It is a long-standing NASA tradition to name spacecraft for those who have made key contributions in the field a particular experiment or observatory is going to be used for.

SERVICING MISSIONS

Early on, it was determined that HST should be designed to be maintained in orbit, and the plans for the Shuttle program fell into those plans. This single key design factor has kept the project alive for nearly 20 years. To date, there have been 5 servicing missions to maintain HST; SM1, SM2, SM3A, SM3B, and SM4. SM3 was split into 2 separate missions after the NICMOS experiment, installed on the 1997 SM2 mission, began to lose its solid nitrogen cooling source much faster than was designed due to an undetected thermal short. A fix was quickly devised, the NICMOS Cryocooler System, a hi-speed cryogenic turbine (the blades are the diameter of a dime) that pumps liquid helium through the original pipes used to originally freeze the nitrogen. The installation of the NCS system and additional cooling systems to compensate for the added heat generated from its electronics, and the failure of 4 of HST's 6 onboard gyros (prompting replacement to be scheduled for SM3A) is why the mission was split into 2 parts.

LEGACY / BENEFITS

HST, though delayed by the shutdown of the Space Program after the Challenger accident, and the initial problem with its primary mirror, has ultimately proven to be the premier observatory the world recognizes. Some of the most stunning pictures and discoveries in the universe have come as a direct result of HST's observations.

In addition to solving some of Astronomy's long-standing problems and fueling the imagination of millions, everyday people have benefited from HST technology as well. Digital cameras and imaging technology, SSD/Flash Drives, Lithium Ion batteries, etc., all owe their origins to technology directly or indirectly used for HST, among many other devices used by ordinary people. As one of 4 observatories in NASA's "Great Observatories" program (the other 3 are the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), the Chandra X-Ray Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope), it has proven that its benefits have been worth the cost.

Other space telescopes are planned - the James Webb Space Telescope (many former HST personnel are now working on it), an Infrared telescope, will be much different, in that it won't view the optical spectrum and will orbit at Lagrangian Point 2 (L2), past the orbit of the Moon. Several other space observatories are already in orbit at the L2 point.

The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) will be the true successor to HST, if the proposed project ever comes to fruition. Also planned to be orbited at the Sun-Earth L2 point, its proposed mirror will be several times larger than HST's, and will be able to view in several wavelengths, including the optical, which JWST isn't designed to do.

Clarke wasn't an engineer, he didn't actually sit down, design, and build a satellite. Instead, he was a scientist and science fiction author, who wrote visionary works from the 1940's and on. It was he who first wrote about the idea of using manned space stations as television relay studios for global broadcast around the world. He rightly claimed the value of placing any such relay devices in a "geostationary orbit", one that stays fixed above a set point over the Earth's equator. Placing three of these stations equidistant around the equator would allow nearly total global coverage, nearly up to the poles. Satellite companies later took his ideas and actually designed and built the satellites to do the work he first envisioned. He first wrote about this around 1945. The first actual communications satellites went up in the 1960's.

However, Clarke's vision of what a communications satellite would look like was vastly different from today's reality. His vision was restricted by the fact that at that time, the transistor was not yet invented. Electronic equipment used vacuum tubes requiring enormous power supplies. Such equipment was notoriously unreliable with MTBF (mean time between failure) measured in only hundreds of hours and would require constant repair & maintenance. He suggested that a communications satellite would be very large, perhaps as big as medium sized office block, and would house a significant technical staff who would live on the satellite. It would probably have to be constructed in space and boosted into the geosynchronous orbit when completed.

Today's communications satellites are generally just a few metres in length and width and weigh just a few tons. Their electronics are based on VLSI (very large scale integration) that allows millions of transistors on a microchip, and giving an MTBF measured in hundreds of thousands of hours.

It originated in China but no hint yet as to who created it

The first genetically modified organism (GMO) was a tobacco plant created by scientists working for the biotechnology company Monsanto in 1983. They introduced a gene from a soil bacteria into the tobacco plant to make it resistant to antibiotics.

The invention of the microscope is important because it allowed scientists to see and study objects and organisms at a much smaller scale than what the human eye can perceive. This has led to significant advancements in various fields such as biology, chemistry, and medicine by enabling researchers to explore and understand the intricate details of cells, microorganisms, and molecular structures.

The term "evolution" was first coined by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in the early 19th century to describe his theory of species changing over time through adaptation and inheritance of acquired traits. Charles Darwin later popularized the concept of evolution through natural selection in his seminal work "On the Origin of Species" published in 1859.

Some geological inventions include the seismograph for measuring earthquakes, the core drill for extracting samples from deep within the Earth, and the GPS for accurate mapping and surveying of geological features.

The first bioplastic was invented by a French chemist named Maurice Lemoigne in the 1920s. He discovered that certain types of bacteria could produce a biodegradable plastic called polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as a byproduct of fermentation.

A candy that looks like the Golgi body would be a Twizzler licorice. The twisted shape of a Twizzler resembles the stacked layers of the Golgi apparatus.

The astatic needle was invented by John Leslie in 1804. It improved the accuracy and sensitivity of early galvanometers used in scientific experiments.

Niels Bohr developed the concept of the planetary atom in order to explain the behavior of electrons in atoms. He proposed that electrons orbit the nucleus in specific energy levels, and that they could jump between these levels by absorbing or emitting energy. This model helped to provide a more accurate explanation of atomic structure and the behavior of electrons.