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The Development of the GPS: A Navigation Revolution
An overview of how satellite positioning works, how the US system grew from 1970s military programs, and how it reshaped navigation, logistics and timing.
Transport and Exploration
Satellites and GPS
Sputnik, weather satellites and the satellite positioning system we use every day.
The Development of the First GPS Device: A Navigation Pioneer
How early satellite navigation receivers evolved from rack-sized military equipment to portable sets, and why 'the first GPS device' depends on how you define it.
The Development of the First GPS System: A Navigation Breakthrough
How the Navstar GPS program and its constellation came together in the 1970s, building on the Navy's earlier Transit satellite navigation system.
The Development of the First Satellite: Sputnik 1
The October 4, 1957 launch of Sputnik 1: what the Soviet satellite carried, how it was launched, and the political shock it caused in the United States.
The Development of the First Weather Satellite: A Forecasting Pioneer
How TIROS-1 sent the first useful satellite cloud pictures in 1960 and how the view from orbit changed weather forecasting, storm tracking and research.
The Development of the GPS Chip: From Laboratory Experiment to Commercial Use
How satellite positioning receivers shrank from boxes of boards to single chips, and how those chips reached cars, phones and everyday devices.
The Development of the GPS System: From Military to Civilian Use
The policy path that opened GPS to civilians: the 1983 airliner shootdown, selective availability, differential GPS and the 2000 decision to switch degradation off.
The Forgotten Story of the First Weather Forecasting Device
How the barometer, the thermometer and the telegraph made forecasting possible, and why no single device can be called the first weather forecasting instrument.
The Forgotten Story of the First Weather Radar System
How wartime radar operators noticed rain on their screens, how researchers turned that clutter into meteorological radar, and how postwar networks developed.
The History of the First GPS Device for Aviation: A Navigation Pioneer
How satellite navigation reached cockpits, supplementing and in places replacing ground radio beacons, from early certification debates to WAAS and RNAV approaches.
The History of the GPS: From Military to Consumer Use
The defense program behind satellite positioning, who ran it, what the military wanted, and the decisions that eventually let consumers use the system.
The History of the Satellite: From Sputnik to GPS
A survey of how artificial satellites grew from Sputnik 1 in 1957 into communication, weather, observation and navigation systems, and the issues they raise.
The History of the Weather Satellite: From Forecasting to Nowcasting
How satellite imagery moved from occasional cloud pictures in the 1960s to frequent, near real-time views of storms from modern geostationary satellites.
The Invention of the Satellite: A New Era in Communication
From Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 proposal to Echo, Telstar, Syncom and Early Bird: how communications satellites and geostationary relays came about.
The Story of the First GPS Device: A Navigation Revolution
The first portable GPS receivers of the late 1980s and 1990s, who bought them, and how handheld units reached hikers, boaters, drivers and surveyors.
The Story of the First Satellite: A Space Exploration
Sputnik in the wider Cold War space race: the rival programs, the early milestones that followed, and how a contest between rivals became a path to exploration.
The Story of the First Satellite: A Space Pioneer
The theorists, rocket designers and teams behind early satellites, from Tsiolkovsky and Goddard to Korolev, von Braun and the engineers who built the first orbiters.
The Story of the First Satellite: Sputnik 1
The small polished sphere of 1957, its beeping radio signal, who heard it and how the public around the world reacted to the first artificial satellite.
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Railways Steam locomotives, rail networks and high-speed trains. Bicycles The bicycle and the parts that made it practical. Vehicles and Navigation Cars, aircraft, radar and satellite navigation. Electric Vehicles Electric cars, bicycles and chairs from early experiments to modern production. Early Aviation The Wright brothers and the key parts that made powered flight practical. Space Stations and Suits The first orbital stations and the suits that kept people alive in space. Submarines The history of underwater craft from early experiments to naval boats. Sailing Ships and Harbors Hulls, sails, rigging and port technology.