A satellite, in technological terms, in is an object lunched into the earths atmosphere for some utilitarian purpose such as tracking global weather, facilitating telecommunication and helping to further space research. The first artificial satellite, the Sputnik 1, was the developed by the Soviet Union and was activated for launch on October 4, 1957. The unexpected launch of the Sputnik 1 sent the United States into a fervor to create its own space program and thus precipitated the Space Race. Satellite technology has since and continues to become increasingly advanced.

Today, satellites facilitate many consumer services. It is almost impossible for the average person to go a day without a service that requires satellite technology. Communications satellite are responsible for enabling cellular phone service, television programing, radio, fax and other services. Prior to satellites, such transmissions were either impossible or too difficult to be of practical use.

With the growing problem of global climate change, weather satellites are one of the most important forms of the technology. Meteorologists rely on the imaging by satellites to predict dangerous weather conditions that often saves thousands of lives.

Space exploration was the first intention of satellite technology and is a endeavor that continues today. Space satellites receive and communicate detailed images and other forms of data of planets and other spacial bodies of interest. These satellites are the most difficult to design because they require greater resilience due to the distance they are needed to travel. Some of the greatest discoveries in astronomy were made by space exploration via satellites.

Although it seems like a recent phenomena, GPS (global positioning system) navigation was first developed in the 1950s for navigation of ships. The location of a navigation device is determined using the doppler effect — the fluctuation of frequency as the source of transmission and observing entity change distance apart.