When the Ikonos satellite settled into orbit last fall, it marked a new era of space imaging. Previously, high-resolution spy satellites were the exclusive domain of the military. The images are delivered digitally, sometimes within hours. Ikonos opens the door for a variety of new applications.
City planners can use it to determine where to put new roads, or farmers to decide when to harvest.
The satellite can even map damage after a natural disaster for insurance adjusters. Telescope All Ears Taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighing as much as 19 Boeing 747s, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. The telescope detects radio waves using a giant dish antenna that covers almost 2 acres the bigger the dish, the more sensitive the telescope. The spacecraft Cluster, a joint venture of NASA and the European Space Agency, will study the complex interactions of Earth's magnetic field and solar wind charged particles streaming from the sun in excess of 1 million miles per hour. But the way the science will be accomplished may be of even greater note.