In October of 1958 when this article was written, a mere year had passed since the successful launch of Sputnik and a few months later the launch of Echo satellites - the first ever for Russia and the USA, respectively. Prior to that time all satellites were conglomerations of rock, metal, and/or gas. There were no manmade satellites except for a couple remnants of test rockets that happened to reach orbital heights.
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That Ronald Michael Benrey, a highschooler of the day, would design and enter an "Earth Satellite" to demonstrate some of the technology needed to an actual orbiting satellite was a phenom. Most people hadn`t even learned to spell "satellite" yet. His creation took second place in the National Science Fair and first prize in the USAF`s Awards Program. Webster`s definition of Argus is incomplete. In Greek mythology, Argus has another connotation - it denotes the starry heavens. In all respects, it is a fitting name for a model satellite - "Argus I" - built by Ronald Michael Benrey and entered in the National Science Fair. The satellite took second prize at the Fair and took first prize in the Air Force`s Awards Program, as well as receiving other citations. While it doesn`t have the 100 eyes of the mythological Argus, it does have seven "eyes" - sensors designed to "see" such things as temperature, ultraviolet light, and micrometeorites-as well as two "voices" - transmitters to relay the information to receivers. A view of the "works" in Argus I. Note that almost all components are cased in plastic to allow full visibility - the metal box at bottom houses the "Brain". With the antennas in place, "Argus I" measures 54" in diameter and weighs 20 pounds. With batteries, it weighs 30 pounds. It is completely transistorized, using 15 transistors in all. Total cost of the project was about $200. Ground Control. When set up, the...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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