2000 Essay Contest

 

---

|Home | Precollege Outreach | |Education Outreach |  

---

It's a bright sunny day and you're happily playing in the park. Hundreds of satellites are orbiting above your head and you don't even realize it. Now imagine that all those satellites suddenly disappear. You probably wouldn't even know it until you got home. But when you got home it would probably be very noticeable. If you tried to watch television, the few signals that use satellites would not come in any more. You probably wouldn't be able (to) call your friend in France. You couldn't even find out tomorrow's weather. After all, that comes from satellites too. 

A few boats would be having trouble finding port due to the fact the Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) wouldn't work. Portable satellite phones wouldn't be worth a penny!

One that you may or not realize is that the moon is a satellite. It may be big, but a satellite none the less. This means no more moon to look at through your telescope, no moon to watch from under the stars, and no more moon to send astronauts to, never mind to build a space station on. The chapter about moon would have to be removed from thousands of science textbooks around the world. Tides would be gone and many tide-dependent animals would no longer be able to flourish. The night would be dark. Now you can imagine some of the importance of satellites in our daily lives and a life without them.  

  SECOND PLACE, 7th GRADE  
Christine Yen
 Redwood Middle School, Saratoga 
Sponsoring Teacher: Julie Shultz 
How would your life be different if there were no satellites? 

Satellites play a major role in communication. They reflect international fax messages, as well as enable wireless Internet, GPS, or Global Positioning Satellite, keeps airplanes, trains, and cars from being lost on long trips. Most of the TV channels require a satellite to carry the channels across land and sea. Live sports channels as well as live TV shows in general need a satellite to bounce the signals off of.

Various other things depend upon an orbiting satellite, as well. Weather is predicted by weather satellites. Hurricane warnings mostly depend on a satellite to alert weather broadcasters.

In many kinds of movies, the supervillain sends a satellite which is capable of obliterating several small countries in one blast into orbit. Of course, if there were no satellites, these movies wouldn't be possible! 

Fax would not be as popular or widely used as it is now. People in cars and planes would get lost more often. Almost all of the many luxury TV channels that satellite dish owners currently enjoy would be gone. There would be many more casualties due to natural forces due to lack of weather satellite information. Obviously, satellites are essential to some people and their lines of work.

Unfortunately, many don't know much about what the satellite does, what it is, and how much it affects their daily life.

 Imagine a world where: cellular phones do not exist, the weather is always unpredictable, cable television is your only choice for T.V. entertainment, other countries' actions are always a mystery, rolled up maps are your only help when you get lost, and the only way to survey land is by exploration. This is what our world would be like if there were no satellites. 

Satellites may be our luxury, but we cannot do without them, for three main reasons. 

First, satellites are our most important source for predicting the weather because of their capability to take pictures of the Earth. Storm warnings can be given before they strike, and people can hide or find shelter. Weather predictions help us decide certain dates of outdoor events, thus saving time. 

Second, satellites are used for military purposes. Countries are thus able to spy on other countries, and spot incoming missiles, the movement of troops, ground bases, and military facilities. 

Lastly, people want satellites for entertainment! Satellite television is much simpler and efficient. With cable, you need to wire every neighborhood house. With satellites, thousands of homes are served from one large satellite in space by having one dish per house. Broadcast signals are received and we are able to surf through channel after channel. Music from radios is also a luxury. 

Satellites are a big part in our lives. Without satellites, our lives would be very different. We are lucky that we have the technology we have today.

  SECOND PLACE, 8th GRADE
Alan Cheng 
Redwood Middle School, Saratoga 
Sponsoring Teacher: Julie Shultz 
What would life be like without satellites?

Life would be very different if there were no satellites. Nowadays we depend on satellites greatly, they can help navigate us if we're lost, predict what the weather for the week would be like, military satellites can now be used for reconnaissance rather than flying spy planes over an area. Military satellites can give early warning of missile fires.

Satellites can also be used for scientific purposes to excel our knowledge of the universe and our planet. Earth orbiting satellites can provide data to map the earth, it can determine the size and shape of the earth, and can also study the dynamics of the oceans and atmosphere. 

Satellites in many ways are more efficient than other methods of transmitting signals. Wireless communication would change if there were no satellites. Satellite TV would no longer work, all the dishes would just become junk.