Word: orbiteer
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...Smithsonian is organizing the optical plotting of the satellite's course, both by individuals with telescopes and binoculars and by special electronically operated cameras at set locations. This work will establish the sphere's orbit, thus setting the stage for obtaining and evaluating a wealth of scientific data from...
Actually, there will be more than one satellite. The Department of Defense, operating through the Navy, will try to fire six, and then the Committee for the International Geophysical Year hopes to send up another six. Of course there is no guarantee that the spheres will get into an orbit, but "bugs" are likely to be ironed out as the tests progress, and it is hoped that at least six of the spheres will be put into flight...
...first the satellite will have to get off the ground. It will be set into its orbit by a three-stage rocket, in which succeeding sections drop off as their energy is exhausted. The whole thing will weigh about ten tons, and the first stage will reach 40 miles and 4,000 miles per hour before dropping off. The next stage will carry it to 130 miles, and the final will put it into its orbit, ranging from 200 to 800 miles aloft and traveling at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour, or enough to revolve about...
...project becomes Operation Moon watch. Groups of amateur astronomers across the country will be set to watch for the satellite at twilight and, if they detect it, will rush their findings to Cambridge. With a few of these determinations, high-speed computers will calculate the satellite's orbit, and the photographic stations will be ready to assume the major part of the observing program. The satellites will also be equipped with radio senders, but these may not function adequately at first...
...Moonwatch stations also become important in the last stages of a satellite's flight, when it begins to drop out of its orbit. If the density of the atmosphere were perfectly known, this orbit too could be figured out by the computing machines. But since it is not, data returned by the observers of the falling satellite will be used instead...