The ontological awakening rendered by the images of space from the ISS and the Hubble telescope puts us all in a state of eternal awe.
The beauty that is benevolent of the cosmos is enchanting and gazing up the skies, legion man-made objects are whizzing past at every moment - satellites, the ISS, space debris… etc
But how did we get from a species that just marveled at the cosmos to exploring it ?
Let’s find out by conducting a small experiment to decrypt the flow of ideas that got us out of our home planet, to begin with.
The setup
The experiment is setup on a hill with a cannon placed on top of it, and you are equipped with a large number of cannon balls. Your aim of this experiment is to launch the cannon ball in orbit.
The fist few attempts prove futile as the cannon ball just drops to the ground, traveling only a few meters.
In the next set of trails, you add some more ammunition. Ah, now we are getting somewhere.
The cannon balls land in the midst of a forest nearby.
You fiddle it with all afternoon and after meticulous adjustments, you succeed!
You have accomplished to put a cannon ball in orbit by firing it up with enough power.
This must be it! This must be how satellites are put in orbit!!
You throw them with enough force so that they remain in orbit without falling back to earth. Eureka ! Eureka !
Well now, you want to up the ante and push the limits of your apparatus.
You dump in all the remaining ammunition and blow the cannon up with all it got.
And then a captivating scene metamorphoses, the cannon ball is gone! It is seen chiseling through the stratas of our atmosphere.
As the cannon ball gets lost in the oblivion of space, you bid adieu to the mountains that have aided you in your quest.
Oh, what a lovely day!
In this post, i wanted to intuitively explain how satellites are put in orbit. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Have a good one! :D
( pardon me for the in-cohesiveness of the post, i had to post this for a friend, who was in urgent need of this asap. Sorry! )
Awesome GIF
