Page 247 - New Medley 5 Semester 2

e Soviet Union USSR launched the rst arti cial satellite,
Sputnik 1, in 1957. Since then, the United States and about
40 other countries have developed, launched and operated

arti cial satellites. India launched its rst satellite in 1975.
It was named Aryabhata. Other Indian satellites include
Bhaskara I and II, Rohini, APPLE, INSAT, Chandrayaan, Aryabhata
GSAT, Mangalyaan, XPOSAT, etc.

Types of Artificial Satellites Knowledge Zone

Arti cial satellites are classi ed according The satellites Aryabhata and Bhaskara were

to their mission. eir main function is to named so to honour our great astronomers

and mathematicians Aryabhata and
collect information for various purposes. Bhaskaracharya respectively.
Weather satellites: ese satellites are

used to study atmospheric conditions from above and to forecast weather. ey

send information and pictures of storms, cyclones, ocean currents and clouds.
For example, METSAT (KALPANA-1), OCEANSAT and CartoSat.

Scienti c research satellites: ese satellites gather data for scienti c analysis

such as composition of space near
the earth, changes in the earth and
its atmosphere, etc. ey also observe

planets, stars and other distant

objects. For example, Rohini, SRDSS,
YouthSat, etc.

Communication satellites: ese
satellites serve as relay stations,

receiving radio signals from one Weather satellite Scientific research satellite
location and transmitting them

to another. A communication
satellite can relay several television

programmes or many thousands
of telephone calls at a time. For

example, APPLE, INSAT, GSAT, etc.

Military satellites: ese are o en
called spy satellites and can detect Communication satellite Military satellite

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