1. Coming of the Orbital Age

Click to View or Print PDF Information Sheet

Born just forty years ago in the cold war, satellite technology has expanded from a single Soviet satellite named Sputnik, to almost three thousand circling the planet today.   The show opens with a brief introduction to satellites: their history, the technology behind them, and their applications.

Basically, there are three types of satellites: communication, tracking systems, and, the show's focus, Earth observation satellites.   Beginning with our weather, we see how heat-detecting satellites have discovered the causes of El Nino.   Via dramatic time-lapse images, the program examines the origins of hurricanes, mapping their violent routes across the Pacific, and specifically a hurricane named George, scored to the music of Danse Macabre.

Satellite technology is critical to our daily bread.   Finding a niche even found down on the farm and today satellites are revolutionizing agriculture.   Using specific examples from mega-farm in Canada, to mini-plots in Poland, farmers are getting far more than a bird's eye view of the north forty.   In China, for example, satellites are used to determine the maturity of rice, signaling the best time to harvest, and even the best route to ship the crop to the cities.