Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2017

NASA's satellites study earth, powered by Aluminium

Aluminium is called the ‘Metal of the Future’, and rightly so. It forms the basis of futuristic technologies and objects such as rockets and satellites which take human endeavours further. NASA’s LAGEOS satellites launched 41 years ago into space speak volumes about innovation and the passion of our species to go beyond in search of knowledge. LAGEOS - LAser GEOdynamics Satellite or LAser Geometric Environmental Observation Survey, are a series of two scientific research satellites designed to provide an orbiting laser ranging benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Earth.  The cannonball shaped satellites have transformed the area of precision measurement technique called laser ranging to measure the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, detected irregularities in the rotation of the planet. Scientists have able to track small shifts in the earth’s centre of mass. The LAGEOS mission was created with these goals in mind: Provide an accurate measurement of the s