Word: silicones
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...FOOTNOTE* The alternator generates alternating current, which is turned into direct current for the car's electrical system by a rectifier. Previously, rectifiers were too bulky for use in autos, but Chrysler has adopted miniaturized silicon-diode rectifiers used in missiles...
...satellite's side. As the solid-fueled third stage was about to fire some 150 miles above the earth, they snapped out into position. Each arm branched in two directions and each branch carried a flat paddle about the size of a checkerboard, covered with 2,000 silicon-based solar cells mounted on a thin plastic honeycomb (an elaboration of the light-collecting window in Vanguard I, which still draws in enough energy to keep the tiny satellite busily broadcasting 17 months after it was launched). At 22,000 m.p.h., the new 142-lb. satellite went into orbit (rotating...
...will protrude four paddlelike surfaces carried on branching supports and arranged in such a way that one of them will always face fairly accurately toward the sun. Both surfaces of the paddles will be covered with a mosaic of cells made of thin sheets of a photoelectric material (probably silicon) that turns sunlight into electricity. The paddles will be folded when the satellite is in the nose of its launching rocket and will snap into position as soon as it is spaceborne. The array of solar batteries is expected to develop as much as 400 watts, about enough...
...satellite, a magnesium sphere with a surface of silicon monoxide to keep it at proper temperature in sun or shadow, was put into a spin of about 50 r.p.m. The spin made it act like a gyroscope, keeping its axis always pointing in the same direction in space. At its perigee, the axis is parallel to the earth's surface. But a quarter of a revolution later the axis points vertically at the earth (see diagram). At apogee, the axis is parallel again...
Besides being useful for tracking the tiny sphere by radio, the transmitters report the temperature inside it. The surface of the sphere is made of shiny aluminum covered with a thin coat of silicon monoxide. This material is transparent to visible light from the sun, which it permits the polished aluminum to reflect back into space. But it looks black to the long infra-red (heat) waves. Since black surfaces radiate well, it permits the satellite to get rid of its internal heat by radiation. The system seems to be working well. Both transmitters have reported that the temperature inside...