Best Satellite

The Garmin Alpha 200i is a GPS pet tracker featuring multi-satellite support, integrated color display, and up to 175 hours of battery life for tracking pets outdoors, transmitting location data via satellite connectivity.

Developed by AT&T's Bell Laboratories and launched by NASA in 1962, Telstar 1 was an early American communications satellite. It relayed live television across the Atlantic and carried telephone signals, demonstrating that an orbiting spacecraft could connect ground stations on different continents....

Explorer 1 became the first United States satellite successfully placed in Earth orbit in 1958. Built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it carried scientific instruments developed at the University of Iowa under James Van Allen. The spacecraft flew before NASA began operating, making it part of the...

A polished metal sphere fitted with radio transmitters and projecting antennas, Sputnik 1 became the world's first artificial Earth satellite when the Soviet Union launched it in 1957. Its recognizable shape reflected a relatively simple purpose: demonstrate orbital flight and transmit signals that...

KH-4 belongs to CORONA, the classified American satellite reconnaissance program developed by the CIA and the Air Force during the Cold War. The broader program ran from 1959 to 1972, with early missions concealed under the Discoverer name. It became the United States' first operational space photor...

Google Maps combines everyday navigation with a broad directory of places, making it useful for both choosing a destination and finding a route there. Business listings include practical information such as opening hours, with reviews and photographs adding context. Street View and satellite imagery...

Syncom 3, launched by NASA in 1964, was the world's first geostationary satellite, positioned over the Pacific Ocean and notable for transmitting live television coverage of the Tokyo Olympics to the United States.

Ivan Getting developed the foundational ideas behind the Global Positioning System or GPS. His work during the 1970s established the concept of using a constellation of satellites for precise navigation. This technology is now essential for military operations, aviation, maritime activities, and num...

Germany's TanDEM-X radar satellite was launched in 2010 as a partner to TerraSAR-X in a mission involving DLR and industry. The pair fly in a carefully controlled helix formation, collecting radar observations from slightly different positions. Combining those measurements through interferometry all...

Launched in 2014, WorldView-3 is a commercial Earth observation satellite associated with Maxar's high-resolution imagery services. Its panchromatic sensor can collect imagery at approximately 0.31-meter ground resolution, allowing small surface features to be distinguished under suitable conditions...

Launched in 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission was a joint American and Japanese effort to study tropical and subtropical precipitation. NASA worked with Japan's space agency, then known as NASDA and later incorporated into JAXA. TRMM carried several instruments, including the first space...

GOES-16, the first satellite of the GOES-R series, is a geostationary weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Launched in 2016, it continuously monitors the Western Hemisphere from a fixed position above the Americas. It features the Advanced Baselin...

Himawari-8 is a Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. Launched in 2014, it provides continuous, high-resolution weather monitoring for the Asia-Pacific region from its orbital position over the equator. Equipped with the Advanced Himawari Imager...

TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite mission between NASA and the French space agency CNES, launched in 1992 to measure global sea-surface topography. Using dual-frequency radar altimeters, it accurately mapped ocean currents and tracked changes in sea level. The satellite provided critical data for...

The Garmin TT 15 is a small GPS tracker specifically designed for pets, utilizing LTE connectivity to transmit location data and allowing owners to monitor their animal’s whereabouts via a smartphone app.

The Seiko Astron GPS Solar SSH045 is a wristwatch that precisely tracks time using radio signals from GPS satellites. This watch automatically synchronizes to Coordinated Universal Time eliminating manual adjustments. Its solar charging capability enhances battery life. It’s suitable for individuals...

IKONOS-2 was a commercial Earth observation satellite launched in 1999 by Space Imaging (later GeoEye). It holds the distinction of being the first satellite to deliver publicly available, high-resolution sub-meter imagery to civilian and commercial customers. Operating in a sun-synchronous orbit, i...

The KH-9 Hexagon was a series of large photoreconnaissance satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from 1971 to 1986. Often referred to as "Big Bird," it combined high-resolution mapping and surveillance photography into a single platform. The satellite utilized a film-ret...

IKONOS helped establish the market for detailed commercial satellite imagery after its launch by Space Imaging in 1999. It was the first commercial Earth observation satellite to deliver approximately one-meter imagery, giving civilian customers access to detail previously difficult to obtain from c...

Part of Europe's Copernicus Programme, Sentinel-2B is an optical Earth observation satellite launched in 2017. Its multispectral imager records reflected light across 13 spectral bands, allowing analysts to examine differences that ordinary color photographs cannot show. A sun-synchronous orbit prov...

Intelsat I, also known as Early Bird, was the first commercial geostationary communications satellite. Built by the Hughes Aircraft Company and launched by NASA in April 1965, it facilitated the first direct and reliable transatlantic television and telephone communications. The spacecraft enabled c...

The Garmin Astro 430 is a handheld GPS pet tracker utilizing satellite communication to transmit real-time location data and offers up to 200 days of battery life in geospatial mode for tracking dogs and other animals outdoors.

Seasat was a NASA ocean-observing satellite launched in 1978, the first spacecraft dedicated to remote sensing of Earth's oceans, pioneering synthetic aperture radar imaging before failing after 105 days.

CryoSat-2 is an Earth observation satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and launched in 2010. Its primary mission is to measure the thickness of sea ice and the elevation of polar ice sheets to understand how climate change affects Earth's cryosphere. It achieves this using the SAR/...

GOES-18, originally known as GOES-T, is a geostationary weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Launched in March 2022, it is the third satellite in the advanced GOES-R series. Positioned at 137.2 degrees West longitude, it serves as the operational...

Nimbus-7 was an American meteorological research satellite launched by NASA in 1978 into a sun-synchronous orbit. As the final satellite in the highly successful Nimbus program, it carried a suite of remote sensing instruments to study Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and climate. Notably, it hosted the...

China Space Station (Tiangong) is China's permanently crewed modular orbital station, with its core Tianhe module launched in 2021, representing China's first long-term human presence in low Earth orbit.

GOES-18 is a geostationary weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and launched in 2022. It replaced GOES-17 as the operational GOES-West satellite, taking up a vantage point at 137.2 degrees West longitude. As part of the advanced GOES-R series, it u...

Vela 5B was a United States Air Force satellite launched in 1969 as part of a military reconnaissance program designed to monitor Soviet compliance with the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The Vela satellites operated in high Earth orbits, utilizing specialized X-ray and gamma-ray detectors to...