Editing Satellite (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Timeline of first artificial satellites by country}}

=== Early proposals ===
The first published mathematical study of the possibility of an artificial satellite was [[Newton's cannonball]], a thought experiment by [[Isaac Newton]] to explain the motion of [[natural satellite]]s, in his ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' (1687). The first fictional depiction of a satellite being launched into orbit was a [[short story]] by [[Edward Everett Hale]], "[[The Brick Moon]]" (1869).<ref>{{cite web |title=Rockets in Science Fiction (Late 19th Century) |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/tl4.html |publisher=[[Marshall Space Flight Center]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000901224414/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/tl4.html |archive-date=1 September 2000 |access-date=21 November 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Science-fiction, the Early Years |url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionea0000blei |url-access=registration |first1=Everett Franklin |last1=Bleiler |first2=Richard |last2=Bleiler |page=[https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionea0000blei/page/325 325] |isbn=978-0-87338-416-2 |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |year=1991}}</ref> The idea surfaced again in [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[The Begum's Fortune]]'' (1879).

In 1903, [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] (1857–1935) published ''Exploring Space Using Jet Propulsion Devices'', which was the first academic treatise on the use of rocketry to launch spacecraft. He calculated the [[orbital speed]] required for a minimal orbit, and inferred that a [[multi-stage rocket]] fueled by liquid [[propellant]]s could achieve this.

[[Herman Potočnik]] explored the idea of using orbiting spacecraft for detailed peaceful and military observation of the ground in his 1928 book, ''The Problem of Space Travel''. He described how the special conditions of space could be useful for scientific experiments. The book described [[geostationary]] satellites (first put forward by [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]]) and discussed the communication between them and the ground using radio, but fell short with the idea of using satellites for mass broadcasting and as telecommunications relays.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 September 2016 |title=Introduction to satellite |url=http://www.sasmac.cn/portal/html/fc4f335929b0df0d0129b0e348f90003/_content/10_07/09/1278668367217.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916064537/http://www.sasmac.cn/portal/html/fc4f335929b0df0d0129b0e348f90003/_content/10_07/09/1278668367217.html |archive-date=16 September 2016 |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=www.sasmac.cn}}</ref>

In a 1945 ''[[Wireless World]]'' article, English science fiction writer [[Arthur C. Clarke]] described in detail the possible use of [[communications satellite]]s for mass communications. He suggested that three geostationary satellites would provide coverage over the entire planet.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Pratt |first1=Timothy |url= |title=Satellite Communications |last2=Allnutt |first2=Jeremy E. |year=2019 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons Ltd]] |isbn=978-1-119-48217-8 |edition=3rd |oclc=1098222848}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=1–2}}

In May 1946, the [[United States Air Force]]'s [[Project RAND]] released the [[Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship]], which stated "A satellite vehicle with appropriate instrumentation can be expected to be one of the most potent scientific tools of the Twentieth Century."<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/special_memoranda/SM11827/ |title=Preliminary Design of an Experimental World-Circling Spaceship |journal=[[RAND]] |date=July 1946 |access-date=6 March 2008 |archive-date=15 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615024409/http://rand.org/pubs/special_memoranda/SM11827/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The United States had been considering launching orbital satellites since 1945 under the [[Bureau of Aeronautics]] of the [[United States Navy]]. Project RAND eventually released the report, but considered the satellite to be a tool for science, politics, and propaganda, rather than a potential military weapon.<ref>{{cite book |title=Venture into Space: Early Years of Goddard Space Flight Center |first=Alfred |last=Rosenthal |publisher=NASA |year=1968 |page=15}}</ref>

In 1946, American theoretical astrophysicist [[Lyman Spitzer]] proposed an orbiting [[space telescope]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hubble Essentials: About Lyman Spitzer, Jr. |publisher=Hubble Site |url=http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/lyman_spitzer.php |access-date=16 October 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009202238/http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/lyman_spitzer.php |url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 1954, Project RAND released "Scientific Uses for a Satellite Vehicle", by R. R. Carhart.<ref>R. R. Carhart, Scientific Uses for a Satellite Vehicle, Project RAND Research Memorandum. (Rand Corporation, Santa Monica) 12 February 1954.</ref> This expanded on potential scientific uses for satellite vehicles and was followed in June 1955 with "The Scientific Use of an Artificial Satellite", by H. K. Kallmann and W. W. Kellogg.<ref>H. K. Kallmann and W. W. Kellogg, Scientific Use of an Artificial Satellite, Project RAND Research Memorandum. (Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California) 8 June 1955.</ref>

=== First satellites ===
[[File:Sputnik asm.jpg|alt=Steel ball with 4 antennas|thumb|Replica of the [[Sputnik 1]]]]
The first artificial satellite was [[Sputnik 1]], launched by the [[Soviet Union]] on 4 October 1957 under the [[Sputnik program]], with [[Sergei Korolev]] as chief designer. Sputnik 1 helped to identify the density of high [[Earth's atmosphere#Temperature and layers|atmospheric layers]] through measurement of its orbital change and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the [[ionosphere]]. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the [[Sputnik crisis]] in the United States and ignited the so-called Space Race within the [[Cold War]].

In the context of activities planned for the [[International Geophysical Year]] (1957–1958), the [[White House]] announced on 29 July 1955 that the U.S. intended to launch satellites by the spring of 1958. This became known as [[Project Vanguard]]. On 31 July, the Soviet Union announced its intention to launch a satellite by the fall of 1957.

[[Sputnik 2]] was launched on 3 November 1957 and carried the first living passenger into orbit, a dog named [[Laika]].<ref name="nasa_animals">{{cite web |title=A Brief History of Animals in Space |url=https://history.nasa.gov/animals.html |first1=Tara |last1=Gray |first2=Steve |last2=Garber |publisher=[[NASA]] |date=2 August 2004 |access-date=12 July 2017 |archive-date=11 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041011053912/https://history.nasa.gov/animals.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The dog was sent without possibility of return.

In early 1955, after being pressured by the [[American Rocket Society]], the [[National Science Foundation]], and the International Geophysical Year, the Army and Navy worked on [[Project Orbiter]] with two competing programs. The army used the [[Jupiter-C IRBM|Jupiter C rocket]], while the civilian–Navy program used the [[Vanguard (rocket)|Vanguard rocket]] to launch a satellite. [[Explorer 1]] became the United States' first artificial satellite, on 31 January 1958.<ref>{{cite news |title=50th anniversary of first U.S. satellite launch celebrated |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/30/state/n151715S68.DTL |agency=[[Associated Press]] |first=Alicia |last=Chang |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=30 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201193510/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2008%2F01%2F30%2Fstate%2Fn151715S68.DTL}}</ref> The information sent back from its radiation detector led to the discovery of the Earth's [[Van Allen radiation belt]]s.<ref name="Allen">{{cite web |title=James A. Van Allen |url=http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=86 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515112204/http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=86 |archive-date=15 May 2018 |access-date=14 May 2018 |website=nmspacemuseum.org |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Space History}}</ref> The [[TIROS-1]] spacecraft, launched on April 1, 1960, as part of NASA's [[Television Infrared Observation Satellite]] (TIROS) program, sent back the first television footage of weather patterns to be taken from space.<ref name="Tatem">{{cite journal |last1=Tatem |first1=Andrew J. |last2=Goetz |first2=Scott J. |last3=Hay |first3=Simon I. |date=2008 |title=Fifty Years of Earth-observation Satellites |journal=American Scientist |volume=96 |issue=5 |pages=390–398 |doi=10.1511/2008.74.390 |pmc=2690060 |pmid=19498953 |issn=0003-0996 }}</ref>

In June 1961, three and a half years after the launch of Sputnik 1, the [[United States Space Surveillance Network]] cataloged 115 Earth-orbiting satellites.<ref>{{cite web |first1=David S. F. |last1=Portree |first2=Joseph P. Jr. |last2=Loftus |url=http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-1999-208856.pdf |title=Orbital Debris: A Chronology |page=18 |work=[[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center]] |year=1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000901071135/http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-1999-208856.pdf |archive-date=1 September 2000 |access-date=21 November 2008}}</ref>

While Canada was the third country to build a satellite which was launched into space,<ref>{{cite book |last=Burleson |first=Daphne |title=Space Programs Outside the United States |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7864-1852-7 |page=43}}</ref> it was launched aboard an [[United States|American]] rocket from an American spaceport. The same goes for Australia, whose launch of the first satellite involved a donated U.S. [[PGM-11 Redstone|Redstone]] rocket and American support staff as well as a joint launch facility with the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mike Gruntman |title=Blazing the Trail |publisher=[[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-56347-705-8 |page=426 |author-link=Mike Gruntman}}</ref> The first Italian satellite [[San Marco 1]] was launched on 15 December 1964 on a U.S. [[Scout rocket]] from [[Wallops Island]] (Virginia, United States) with an Italian launch team trained by [[NASA]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Harvey |first=Brian |title=Europe's Space Programme |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85233-722-3 |page=114}}</ref> In similar occasions, almost all further first national satellites were launched by foreign rockets.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

France was the third country to launch a satellite on its own rocket. On 26 November 1965, the [[Astérix (satellite)|Astérix]] or A-1 (initially conceptualized as FR.2 or FR-2), was put into orbit by a [[Diamant]] A rocket launched from the CIEES site at [[Hammaguir]], [[Algeria]]. With Astérix, France became the sixth country to have an artificial satellite.

=== Later Satellite Development ===
Early satellites were built to unique designs. With advancements in technology, multiple satellites began to be built on [[Comparison of satellite buses|single model platforms]] called [[satellite bus]]es. The first standardized satellite bus design was the [[HS-333]] [[Geosynchronous orbit|geosynchronous]] (GEO) [[communication satellite]] launched in 1972. Beginning in 1997, [[FreeFlyer]] is a commercial off-the-shelf software application for satellite mission analysis, design, and operations.

After the late 2010s, and especially after the advent and operational fielding of large [[satellite internet constellation]]s—where on-orbit active satellites more than doubled over a period of five years—the companies building the constellations began to propose regular planned deorbiting of the older satellites that reached the [[End-of-life (product)|end of life]], as a part of the [[regulatory authority|regulatory process]] of obtaining a launch license.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} The largest artificial satellite ever is the [[International Space Station]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Welch |first1=Rosanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWGHDwAAQBAJ&q=largest+artificial+satellite&pg=RA2-PA126 |title=Technical Innovation in American History: An Encyclopedia of Science and Technology [3 volumes] |last2=Lamphier |first2=Peg A. |year=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-094-2 |page=126 |language=en |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214004816/https://books.google.com/books?id=aWGHDwAAQBAJ&q=largest+artificial+satellite&pg=RA2-PA126 |archive-date=14 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the early 2000s, and particularly after the advent of [[CubeSat]]s and increased launches of [[Microsatellite (spaceflight)|microsats]]—frequently launched to the lower altitudes of [[low Earth orbit]] (LEO)—satellites began to more frequently be designed to get destroyed, or breakup and burnup entirely in the atmosphere.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Slejko |first1=E. A. |last2=Gregorio |first2=A. |last3=Lughi |first3=V. |year=2021 |title=Material selection for a CubeSat structural bus complying with debris mitigation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273117720308383 |url-status=live |journal=Advances in Space Research |volume=67 |issue=5 |pages=1468–1476 |bibcode=2021AdSpR..67.1468S |doi=10.1016/j.asr.2020.11.037 |s2cid=233841294 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603044215/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273117720308383 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |access-date=3 June 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
For example, [[SpaceX]] [[Starlink]] satellites, the first large satellite internet constellation to exceed 1000 active satellites on orbit in 2020, are designed<!-- these are the v1.0 sats; the v0.9 sats had at least one component that was not fully demiseable --> to be 100% demisable and burn up completely on their atmospheric reentry at the end of their life, or in the event of an early satellite failure.<ref name="tasia202104">{{cite news |last1=Garrity |first1=John |last2=Husar |first2=Arndt |date=April 2021 |title=Digital Connectivity and Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellations: Opportunities for Asia and the Pacific |work=think-asia.org |url=https://think-asia.org/handle/11540/13626 |url-status=live |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721104450/https://think-asia.org/handle/11540/13626 |archive-date=21 July 2022}}</ref>

In different periods, many countries, such as [[Algeria]], [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], [[Austria]], [[Brazil]], [[Canada]], [[Chile]], [[China]], [[Denmark]], [[Egypt]], [[Finland]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Israel]], [[Italy]], [[Japan]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[South Korea]], [[Malaysia]], [[Mexico]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Norway]], [[Pakistan]], [[Poland]], [[Russia]], [[Saudi Arabia]], [[South Africa]], [[Spain]], [[Switzerland]], [[Thailand]], [[Turkey]], [[Ukraine]], the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]], had some satellites in orbit.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Buchholz |first1=Katharina |title=The Countries with the Most Satellites in Space |date=4 May 2023 |url=https://www.statista.com/chart/17107/countries-with-the-most-satellites-in-space/ |access-date=11 November 2023 |publisher=statista |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004102936/https://www.statista.com/chart/17107/countries-with-the-most-satellites-in-space/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Japan's space agency (JAXA) and [[NASA]] plan to send a wooden satellite prototype called LingoSat into orbit in the summer of 2024. They have been working on this project for few years and sent first wood samples to the space in 2021 to test the material's resilience to space conditions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cairns |first1=Rebecca |title=Japanese scientists want to send a wooden satellite into space |date=11 November 2023 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/07/asia/japan-wooden-satellite-scn-spc/index.html |access-date=11 November 2023 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>