HBSC 4103 TEACHING SCIENCE FOR LOWER SECONDARY III 2011

PART A: EVIDENCES OF THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE, SATELLITES IN TELECOMMUNICATION AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM COVERING SUBTOPIC OF ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS AND COMETS.

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INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE EVIDENCES Please refer to the following attachments

PART B: DISCUSSION ABOUT THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE, SATELLITES IN TELECOMMUNICATION AND THE SOLAR SYSTEM COVERING SUBTOPIC OF ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS AND COMETS INCLUDING THEIR IMPACT ON EARTH.

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INRTODUCTION 2.1 THE USE OF REMOTE SENSING IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE.

Agriculture plays a dominant role in economies of both developed and undeveloped countries. Whether agriculture represents a substantial trading industry for an economically strong country or simply sustenance for a hungry, overpopulated one, it plays a significant role in almost every nation. The production of food is important to everyone and producing food in a cost-effective manner is the goal of every farmer, large-scale farm manager and regional agricultural agency. A farmer needs to be informed to be efficient, and that includes having the knowledge and information products to forge a viable strategy for farming operations. These tools will help him understand the health of his crop, extent of infestation or stress damage, or potential yield and soil conditions. Commodity brokers are also very interested in how well farms are producing, as yield (both quantity and quality) estimates for all products control price and worldwide trading.

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When farmers or ranchers observe their fields or pastures to assess their condition without physically touching them, it is a form of remote sensing. Observing the colors of leaves or the overall appearances of plants can determine the plant's condition. Remotely sensed images taken from satellites and aircraft provide a means to assess field conditions without physically touching them from a point of view high above the field. The use of remote sensing for data gathering, allied to the introduction of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a powerful tool to process that data in conjunction with information collected using traditional field techniques helps overcome traditional data volume constraints. Remotely sensed data permits the preparation of base, terrain evaluation, land use classification and land degradation maps. Agriculture and associated vegetative phenomena are dynamic; a correct appraisal of conditions at any time is essential for forecasting trends and patterns in land cover, processes and yield/biomass. Remote sensing involves the measurement of energy that I reflected or emitted from objects without coming into contact with the objects. Satellite and airborne images are used as mapping tools to classify crops, examine their health and viability, and monitor farming practices. Agricultural applications of remote sensing include crop type classification, crop condition assessment, crop yield estimation, mapping of soil characteristics, mapping of soil management practices and compliance monitoring (farming practices). Most remote sensors see the same visible wavelengths of light that are seen by the human eye, although in most cases remote sensors can also detect energy from wavelengths that are undetectable to the human eye. The remote view of the sensor and the ability to store, analyze, and display the sensed data on field maps are what make remote sensing a potentially important tool for agricultural producers. Agricultural remote sensing is not new and dates back to the 1950s, but recent technological advances have made the benefits of remote sensing accessible to most agricultural producers. The basic principles of remote sensing with satellites and aircraft are similar to visual observations. Energy in the form of light waves travels from the sun to Earth. Light waves travel similarly to waves traveling across a lake. The distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of
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the next wave is the wavelength. Energy from sunlight is called the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths used in most agricultural remote sensing applications cover only a small region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Wavelengths are measured in micrometers (m) or nanometers (nm). One um is about .00003937 inch and 1 m equals 1,000 nm. The visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum is from about 400 nm to about 700 nm. The green color associated with plant vigor has a wavelength that centers near 500 nm. Wavelengths longer than those in the visible region and up to about 25 m are in the infra red region. The infrared region nearest to that of the visible region is the near infrared (NIR) region. Both the visible and infrared regions are used in agricultural remote sensing. When electromagnetic energy from the sun strikes plants, three things can happen. Depending upon the wavelength of the energy and characteristics of individual plants, the energy will be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted. Reflected energy bounces off leaves and is readily identified by human eyes as the green color of plants. A plant looks green because the chlorophyll in the leaves absorbs much of the energy in the visible wavelengths and the green color is reflected. Sunlight that is not reflected or absorbed is transmitted through the leaves to the ground. Interactions between reflected, absorbed, and transmitted energy can be detected by remote sensing. The differences in leaf colors, textures, shapes or even how the leaves are attached to plants, determine how much energy will be reflected, absorbed or transmitted. The relationship between reflected, absorbed and transmitted energy is used to determine spectral signatures of individual plants. Spectral signatures are unique to plant species. Remote sensing is used to identify stressed areas in fields by first establishing the spectral signatures of healthy plants. The spectral signatures of stressed plants appear altered from those of healthy plants. There are several types of remote sensing systems used in agriculture but the most common is a passive system that senses the electromagnetic energy reflected from plants. The

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sun is the most common source of energy for passive systems. Passive system sensors can be mounted on satellites, manned or unmanned aircraft, or directly on farm equipment. There are several factors to consider when choosing a remote sensing system for a particular application, including spatial resolution, spectral resolution, radiometric resolution, and temporal resolution. Spatial resolution refers to the size of the smallest object that can be detected in an image. The basic unit in an image is called a pixel. One-meter spatial resolution means each pixel image represents an area of one square meter. The smaller an area represented by one pixel, the higher the resolution of the image. Spectral resolution refers to the number of bands and the wavelength width of each band. A band is a narrow portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Shorter wavelength widths can be distinguished in higher spectral resolution images. Multi-spectral imagery can measure several wavelength bands such as visible green or NIR. Landsat, Quickbird and Spot satellites use multispectral sensors. Hyperspectral imagery measures energy in narrower and more numerous bands than multi-spectral imagery. The narrow bands of hyperspectral imagery are more sensitive to variations in energy wavelengths and therefore have a greater potential to detect crop stress than multi-spectral imagery. Multi-spectral and hyperspectral imagery are used together to provide a more complete picture of crop conditions. Radiometric resolution refers to the sensitivity of a remote sensor to variations in the reflectance levels. The higher the radiometric resolution of a remote sensor, the more sensitive it is to detecting small differences in reflectance values. Higher radiometric resolution allows a remote sensor to provide a more precise picture of a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Temporal resolution refers to how often a remote sensing platform can provide coverage of an area. Geo-stationary satellites can provide continuous sensing while normal orbiting satellites can only provide data each time they pass over an area. Remote sensing taken from cameras mounted on airplanes is often used to provide data for applications requiring more

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frequent sensing. Cloud cover can interfere with the data from a scheduled remotely sensed data system. Remote sensors located in fields or attached to agricultural equipment can provide the most frequent temporal resolution.

Figure 1

Satellite remote sensing complete process

Figure above illustrates a satellite remote sensing complete process as applied to agricultural monitoring processes. The sun (A) emits electromagnetic energy (B) to plants (C). A portion of the electromagnetic energy is transmitted through the leaves. The sensor on the satellite detects the reflected energy (D). The data is then transmitted to the ground station (E). The data is analyzed (F) and displayed on field maps (G). Here are some application of remote sensing in the field of agriculture and its explanations. In order to determine the soil characteristics, remote sensing images obtained when vegetative field coverage is not significant often are called bare soil images. These data can be used to identify areas of the field with similar physical soil properties. This method has not been widely accepted as an adequate method of soil mapping because the reflectance characteristics of
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the desired soil properties often are affected by variability in soil moisture content, crop residue coverage, surface roughness, atmospheric conditions, solar zenith angle, and view angle. However, the patterns of bare soil images in many instances reproduce soil type survey maps and are often more accurate. Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles (DOQ) is the most popular examples of imagery that can be downloaded from various data bank web sites. Alternatively, bare soil images can be used as a key element in prescribing adaptive soil sampling that provides a cost efficient alternative to conventional grid sampling. Homogeneity of bare soil reflection in certain areas of the field (in practice represented by management zones) usually suggests similarities in organic matter content and some other key soil properties causing variable soil fertility and moisture holding capacity. The management zone approach can be significantly enhanced when productivity factors derived from ground-based soil maps and crop related information are integrated.

Next, yield prediction. Yield estimation by means of remote sensing data is not new. Experimentation in this area has been ongoing since before the launch of NASAs first Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1, now known as Landsat) in 1972.Currently, remotely sensed imagery is being applied to predict yield in two ways. The first, focused on crop-growth models, uses remote sensing as a calibration tool for a particular model. Some of these, processoriented physiological crop growth models, could be used to accurately predict yield under well managed conditions. However, the models require agronomic and meteorological data that generally are not available at desired spatial resolution. Current physiological crop growth models appear to be primarily intended for research purposes and input requirements are numerous and complex.

While in crop monitoring, remote sensing images generated from vegetative indices, like NDVI and GNDVI, throughout the growing season are becoming common. These products (often referred to as Crop vigor or Vegetation status maps) can be used to guide nutrient management, weed control, and irrigation. Remotely sensed crop vegetation data also can be used to identify crop stresses and injuries due to abnormal soil and weather conditions (drought, weed patches, soil erosion, nutrient deficiency, hail storms, flooding, and many more.). These data can help identify field areas that are most susceptible to poor crop performance.
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In nutrient management field, knowledge of plant growth, nutrient uptake patterns during the growing season and deficiency symptoms have prompted researchers to acquire imagery during key growth stages. Crop reflectance varies with:

1) 2) 3)

Genetic varietal differences in corn and soybean cultivars, Leaf structure, growth stage, soil color, and nutrient/moisture content, and Environmental stress factors. Therefore, relative vegetation condition cannot be directly compared between fields (for example, hybrid to hybrid).

However, it is possible to assess relative health within one field. As with most crop tests, there is a need for on-site calibration with a reference strip (also referred to as normalization). The crop reference strip is given excess nitrogen fertilizer to ensure a no-stress condition for comparison purposes. With the use of an on-site crop calibration strip, relative health within a field can be assessed with imagery. Additionally, it can be seen that some hybrids are more sensitive to a nitrogen deficit than others.

As applied in weed detection. Competition from weeds is a major source of yield loss in row crop production. During most years, weed populations in row crops will require some form of weed management to reduce the impact on both quality and quantity of yield. A growers ability to use site-specific technologies to reduce the quantity of herbicide applied would be recognized economically. This reduced application would, in turn, markedly reduce the filtration of chemicals into surface and groundwater supplies. Weed populations often are aggregated in fields.

Imagery may be used to separate weeds from bare soil by taking advantage of the increase in near-infrared reflectance during early season development. This is about the time that post-emergence herbicides are applied.

Last but not least, the irrigation. Its help reduce the time required and spatial uncertainty associated with irrigation scheduling, remote sensing can be used to help automate and perhaps more accurately schedule irrigation. Research to improve irrigation scheduling with remote
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sensing technologies has been conducted using on-site, airborne, and satellite sensors to accurately detect canopy temperature, pigment content and composition, vegetation indices, leaf cell structure, canopy architecture, and leaf-water content. Each of these research efforts has enhanced our understanding of crop growth, but at this time none has produced a viable product to be used for irrigation scheduling. One technique for detecting crop stress (including that due to a water deficit) is fluorescence. As plants become stressed, the photosynthetic process begins to slow down. When this happens, plants are unable to fully utilize all of the solar radiation that is captured via photosynthesis. Most of the unused energy is converted to heat, but a small portion is emitted as red light (chlorophyll fluorescence). Infrared sensors (infrared thermometers referred to as IRTs) are available to monitor canopy temperature. Medium to low spatial resolution visible and thermal data are available from Landsat Thematic Mapper and can be used to determine net irrigated acreage and cropping patterns. It also can help assess evaporation at scales from the field to irrigation system level.

Remote sensing can provide valuable information about soils and vegetative coverage for a relatively large area without physical contact. Several commercial vendors offer aerial and satellite imagery that can serve as one of key GIS layers for making decisions related to sitespecific management. Some vehicle-based concepts have been found suitable for real-time control of agricultural chemical application rates. Difficulties related to data quality and timely deliveries are two major concerns that have emerged from past experience. Numerous research efforts are currently directed to development and validation of various applications of remotely sensed data to support precision agriculture.

The strength of remote sensing is the opportunity to learn more about crop performance variability while the crop is still growing. Benefits can be realized by combining this information with soil, yield and other maps in developing an integrated crop production program.

When adequate information on these component parts of the agricultural system are available or can be collected, political and economic concerns can be addressed through improved management programmes to ensure both the sustainable utilisation of the available
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resources for food and of appropriate high level decisions regarding food movements, pricing and imports or exports. The premier way of acquiring this data in a cost-effective and synoptic way is through the use of rigorous remote sensing methodologies.

2.2

SATELLITES IN TELECOMMUNICATION.

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications. Communications satellites allow radio, television, and telephone transmissions to be sent live anywhere in the world. It also receives and broadcast long-distance signals in the form of radio waves. Satellite Telecommunications is also the most mature and economically most important of the space applications. Communications satellites have a quiet, yet profound, effect on our daily lives. They link remote areas of the Earth with telephone and television. Modern financial business is conducted at high speed via satellite. Before satellites, transmissions were difficult or impossible at long distances. The signals, which travel in straight lines, could not bend around the round Earth to reach a destination far away. Because satellites are in orbit, the signals can be sent instantaneously into space and then redirected to another satellite or directly to their destination. The concept of satellite based networks is to transmit and receive signals from ground stations. The purpose of satellite communication is to use it for video transmission and sharing. In simple words a satellite is a device which revolves around the earth either for collecting useful information or for helping transfer of information. Therefore, same goes to satellite communication. The satellite can have a passive role in communications like bouncing signals from the Earth back to another location on the Earth; on the other hand, some satellites carry electronic devices called transponders for receiving, amplifying, and re-broadcasting signals to the Earth.

HBSC 4103 TEACHING SCIENCE FOR LOWER SECONDARY III 2011

Figure 2

The satellite

Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and non-polar) Earth orbits. However, communications satellites are often in geostationary orbit. At the high orbital altitude of 35,800 kilometers, a geostationary satellite orbits the Earth in the same amount of time it takes the Earth to revolve once. From Earth, therefore, the satellite appears to be stationary, always above the same area of the Earth. The area to which it can transmit is called a satellite's footprint. For example, many Canadian communications satellites have a footprint which covers most of Canada. A Geostationary Orbit satellite also provides an illusion that it is stationary in a fixed location in space. Actually, it revolves around the planet once a day in the equator. It is useful for telecommunication devices especially those that rely on stationary antennas since there is no need to install special equipments for such facilities just to track the satellite.

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On the other hand, the Molniya Orbit group of satellites operates at a certain inclined position suitable for Northern Altitudes. These Comsats were designed so that they will take more time servicing Northern latitudes. Molniya satellites are usually used for Television broadcast transmissions and telephone relays over the Russian state. Communications satellites can also be in highly elliptical orbits. This type of orbit is roughly egg-shaped, with the Earth near the top of the egg. In a highly elliptical orbit, the satellite's velocity changes depending on where it is in its orbital path. When the satellite is in the part of its orbit that's close to the Earth, it moves faster because the Earth's gravitational pull is stronger. This means that a communications satellite can be over the region of the Earth that it is communicating with for the long part of its orbit. It will only be out of contact with that region when it quickly zips close by the Earth. As mentioned above, satellites communication receives and broadcast long distance signal in the form of radio waves. For fixed (point-to-point) services, communications satellites provide a microwave radio relay technology complementary to that of communication cables. They are also used for mobile applications such as communications to ships, vehicles, planes and hand-held terminals, and for TV and radio broadcasting, for which application of other technologies, such as cable, is impractical or impossible. Microwave radio relay is a technology for transmitting digital and analog signals, such as long-distance telephone calls and the relay of television programs to transmitters, between two locations on a line of sight radio path. In microwave radio relay, radio waves are transmitted between the two locations with directional antennas, forming a fixed radio connection between the two points. Long daisy-chained series of such links form transcontinental telephone and/or television communication systems. Because a line of sight radio link is made, the radio frequencies used occupy only a narrow path between stations (with the exception of a certain radius of each station). Antennas used must have a high directive effect; these antennas are installed in elevated locations such as large radio towers in order to be able to transmit across long distances. Typical types of antenna used in radio relay link installations are parabolic reflectors, shell antennas and horn radiators,
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which have a diameter of up to 4 meters. Highly directive antennas permit an economical use of the available frequency spectrum, despite long transmission distances. Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via radio, television, or other. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof. Broadcast also referred to the literal sowing of seeds on farms by scattering them over a wide field. There are 2 categories of satellites which are passive and active satellites. The principle of communication by passive satellite is based on the properties of scattering of electromagnetic waves from different surface areas. Thus an electromagnetic wave incident on a passive satellite is scattered back towards the earth and a receiving station can receive the scattered wave. The passive satellites used in the early years of satellite communications were both artificial as well as natural. For example, the first artificial passive satellite Echo-I of NASA was launched in August 1960. Echo-I was 100-ft. diameter inflatable plastic balloon with aluminum coating that reflected radio signals transmitted from huge earth station antennas. Echo-I had an orbital height of 1000 miles. Earth Stations across US and Europe picked up the signal and contributed a lot in motivating research in communication satellite. Echo-I was followed by Echo-II in 1964. With Echo-II, Scientists of US and Soviet Russia collaborated for the first time on international space experiments. Signals were transmitted between University of Manchester for NASA and Gorki State University in Russia. The orbit of Echo-II was 600 to 800 miles. Although passive satellites were simple, the communications between two distant places were successfully demonstrated only after overcoming many technical problems. The large attenuation of the signal while traveling the large distance between the transmitter and the receiver via the satellite was one of the most serious problems. The disadvantages of passive satellites for communications are:

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1. Earth Stations required high power (10 kW) to transmit signals strong enough to produce an adequate return echo. 2. Large Earth Stations with tracking facilities were expensive. 3. Communications via the Moon is limited by simultaneous visibility of the Moon by both the transmit and the receive stations along with the larger distance required to be covered compared to that of closer to earth satellite. 4. A global system would have required a large number of passive satellites accessed randomly by different users. 5. Control of satellites not possible from ground.

In active satellites, which amplify and retransmit the signal from the earth have several advantages over the passive satellites. The advantages of active satellites are: 1. Require lower power earth station 2. Less costly 3. Not open to random use 4. Directly controlled by operators from ground.

While, the disadvantages of active satellites are: 1. Disruption of service due to failure of electronics components on-board the satellites 2. Requirement of on-board power supply 3. Requirement of larger and powerful rockets to launch heavier satellites in orbit Here is several examples installation of satellites. Worlds first active satellite SCORE (Satellite Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched by US Airforce in 1958 at orbital height of 110 to 900 miles. It transmitted a pre-recorded message of Christmas Greetings from US President Eisenhower. However, the satellite did not function as a true repeater. The first fully active satellite was Courier launched into an orbit of 600 - 700 mile, by Department of Defense in 1960. It accepted and stored up to 360,000 Teletype words as it
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passed overhead and rebroadcast them to ground station farther along its orbit. It operated with 3 watts of on-board output power and it was also the first satellite to use solar cells for generating electrical power. In July 1962 AT&Ts active satellite Telstar was developed and launched. Telstar was placed in an elliptical orbit with orbital height of 682 to 4030 miles circling the earth in 2 hours and 40 min. Through Telstar, the first live transatlantic television was transmitted. Voice, television, fax and data were transmitted between various sites in UK, France, Brazil Italy and US at 6/4 GHz frequency range. Relay-I satellite of RCA & NASA, was the first satellite to carry redundant system for increasing the reliability. Telephone & Television signals were transmitted to Europe, South America and Japan. Frequency bands of 4.2/1.7 GHz and orbit heights of 942 to 5303 miles were used. Syncom, the first geosynchronous satellite of NASA was built by Hughes Aircraft Co. and was launched in July 1963 and was used for conducting many experiments. Most famous of the series Syncom-III was launched in 1963 and was used to transmit Tokyo Olympic games to United States, demonstrating the commercial market for space technology. Syncom-I and-II were used by Department of Defense for military purpose. The Syncom Satellites marked a turning point in the development of Satellite Communications as most of the commercial satellites that followed were designed to operate from geosynchronous orbit.

Currently only a part of the worlds long distance telecom traffic is handled by different international satellite communications systems. However, for international broadcasting of television there is no alternative to satellite communications. Examples of various international satellite systems are: INTELSAT New Skies Satellites PanAmSaT INTERSPUTNIK
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INMARSAT COSPAS-SARSAT

INTELSAT is recognizing that Satellite Communications would be an important means for international cooperation, in July 1961; President Kennedy of US invited all nations to participate in a communication satellite system in the interest of world peace and brotherhood among peoples throughout the world.

Figure 3

The Intelsat

Next, the former PanAmSat Corporation founded in 1984 by Reynold (Rene) Anselmo, was a satellite service provider headquartered inGreenwich, Connecticut. It operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and telecommunication companies. INMARSAT was the operator of the first global mobile satellite communications system. Its goal is to enable merchant ships to stay in touch across the oceans and to call for help in an emergency. Today Inmarsat owns and operates three global constellations of 11 satellites flying in geosynchronous orbit 37,786 km (22,240 statute miles) above the Earth.

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Figure 4

INMARSAT 4

However, there are impacts of satellite communication to our environment, social and economic. Unfortunately for the satellite sector, the impact would not be so large. A study was designed to give background on the impact that communications systems can have and to consider where the regulator might pay more attention to environmental impacts in future decisions, including spectrum licensing decisions. The study takes as a starting point that information and communication technology (ICT) contributes about 2 percent of global carbon emissions. This ICT contribution is predicted to grow to approximately 2.8 percent of global emissions by 2020. The impact from consumer TV and related peripherals is considered to be about the same. These consumer devices have a substantial overall impact due to the large volumes of units involved and the shorter product life compared to infrastructure systems. It is that comparison that leads to the assessment that a shift to satellite systems compared to terrestrial would not have much impact on the overall carbon contribution. The dominant impact of DTT, according to the study, arises from the energy consumption during the operating or use phase. DTT infrastructure has a long service life, which means there is a modest annual

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contribution to carbon emissions from manufacturing and installation of the infrastructure equipment (transmission equipment, antennas and the like) over the expected life of the system. The satellite sector makes the good point that it uses much less electricity for broadcast transmissions. Satellites in space use solar energy, while DTT transmission towers rely on terrestrially generated energy to transmit to consumers. Nevertheless, that energy consumption and related carbon emission is only a small part of the picture. By far the main energy consumption connected with the broadcasting sector comes from consumer TV equipment. The study estimates that U.K. CO2 emissions from the DTT transmission network represent about 0.01 percent of total U.K. emissions, compared to about 3.54 percent of emissions coming from domestic TV equipment. Looking at the energy consumption of satellite versus terrestrial TV equipment does not produce a favorable comparison for the satellite sector. The study maintains that satellite set-top boxes (STBs) and other consumer equipment use substantially more energy than DTT equipment does. Both for operating power consumption and standby power use, satellite STBs compared poorly to DTT equivalents. For instance, the study assesses that "a satellite-based household uses significantly more power (63 percent more), mainly due to the very high standby power consumption of the satellite equipment." With appropriate incentives, satellite STB manufacturers could catch up with terrestrial equivalents, according to the study, and even today the main U.K. satellite broadcaster is making such efforts. Nevertheless, if satellite totally supplanted DTT in the United Kingdom, the resulting energy consumption would be at least 50 percent higher with current equipment. The overall conclusion of this study is that the operating power for a terrestrial transmitter network should not be the primary target for energy efficiency because it is so small an element compared to consumer equipment. The power consumption for DTT infrastructure is only about 2 percent of U.K. domestic TV equipment consumption. Moreover, the impact of satellite installation does the satellite sector no favors either, because satellite antenna installation would normally be a more energy intensive matter than self-installation of DTT equipment.

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The bottom line is that consumer equipment power consumption is the main energy and carbon impact for broadcasting which other life cycle impacts are much less important and satellite broadcasting does not come off so good in the comparison. The conclusion is that there probably is "not an overwhelming environmental advantage of one [TV] technology over the other." However, the satellite communication also can be effect by the environmental of the earth. Satellite communication is normally thought of as a robust means of communication, not sensitive to environmental impacts. This perception is not totally accurate. Satellite communication can be and is affected by the environment in which it operates Space environmental effects on satellite communication can be separated into effects on the space element (example the satellite), effects on the ground element (example the Earth station), and effects on the signals propagating through the Earth's lower and upper atmosphere

Effects on the satellite depend on the orbit of the satellite. Geosynchronous satellites in the highest orbits are susceptible to bursts of high energy particles that are infrequently emitted from the sun. These particles may cause memory upsets, dielectric charging and radiation

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damage to components. This can result in operational glitches, degradation of service or in extreme cases, loss of the satellite. Satellites in low Earth orbits are less susceptible to particle damage, except over the Polar Regions, but may suffer increased orbital decay (and consequent reduced lifetime) when increased solar activity occurs. Ground station downlink sensitivity is affected by noise sources in the beam of the receiving antenna. This can include sky noise and solar noise. The effect is dependent on frequency of operation. The propagating signal may be affected by its passage through the ionosphere (upper atmosphere) or the troposphere (lower atmosphere). These effects depend significantly on frequency, but include signal absorption, scintillation, Faraday rotation and bandwidth decoherence. Geographic location and signal propagation path can determine the extent to which the signal is affected.

Figure 5

Geographic location and signal propagation

Space is not the benign environment that was once thought. It is traversed by small pieces of matter (meteoroids) and also by a large and variable radiation flux. The radiation field in Earth orbit comes from three sources, galactic cosmic radiation, trapped radiation belts (the Van Allen

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belts) and solar radiation. The first two sources are particulate radiation, mostly protons and electrons. Solar radiation is both electromagnetic and particulate (atomic and sub-atomic). Galactic cosmic radiation consists mostly of very high energy protons that form a constant low level background radiation source. These particles are not particularly significant for communications satellites, but present a possible hazard for long duration manned spaceflights to other planets. Occasionally they may be responsible for memory upsets in communication satellites. Trapped radiation belts are low energy particulate radiation that must be considered for satellites that spend significant time in medium altitude orbits. The Van Allen belts are in fact responsible for the bimodal distribution of satellites. Orbits below about 1500 km are mostly below the radiation belts, whereas geosynchronous orbits lie above them. Satellites in semisynchronous orbits (example GPS satellites) must employ radiation hardened components (particularly in the computer memory area) to survive for many years. So far, Molniya type satellites, with very elliptical orbits, are the only comsats to spend much time in the Van Allen belts, and even these transit the danger region fairly quickly on their way from perigee (where they are non-functional) up to their apogee where they spend most of their active life. Solar radiation is extremely variable. The background solar ionising radiation consists of low level X-rays and a small particle component we term the solar wind. However, during explosive events that occur on the sun (flares and coronal mass ejections), the flux of X-rays may increase several orders of magnitude, and the energy of this radiation increases (becomes "harder"). Electrons and protons may be ejected in large numbers, and in rare events some particles may be accelerated to very high energies (even in excess of 1 GeV). It is these solar energetic particles (SEP's) that can cause damage to spacecraft. SEP's may cause direct radiation damage to spacecraft components such as large solar cell arrays. Some spacecraft have had the efficiency of their solar cells reduced by over 30% in a single large solar particle event. This effectively reduces the lifetime of the spacecraft by several years (and denies the owner several million dollars revenue). Even large numbers of lower

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energy electrons have caused damage to satellites, in one case resulting in a total spacecraft loss (a Canadian Anik geosat). Other effects of particles on satellites are related to vehicle charging. In cases where a spacecraft has surfaces which have a small radius of curvature, and in particular several surfaces that may be insulated from each other, differential surface charging can occur. This may induce deep dielectric charging in the space-craft's circuit boards. If the charge builds to a high value, a sudden discharge may occur with resultant damage to electronic components. Single particles may also deposit sufficient charge inside the space-craft near memory cell components and result in a "bit-flip", changing the state of the memory cell from a zero to a one (or vice versa), causing an error in a system program or data. These are temporary effects referred to as single event upsets or SEU's. A potentially dangerous condition can arise for geosynchronous satellites (geosats) when solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions create sufficient pressure to push the boundary of the Earth's magnetosphere (called the magnetopause) to a lower altitude than the satellites orbit. Normally the magnetosphere, the region where the Earth's magnetic field controls the motion of particles in space, provides a degree of shielding and protection to satellites within its borders. If a satellite finds itself outside the magnetosphere, effectively "in space", then it will be exposed to a massive increase in solar particulate radiation when on the sunward side of the Earth. In addition, older satellites also rely on the Earth's magnetic field to maintain correct orientation. When a magnetopause crossing occurs, these satellites will lose their orientational reference. A satellite ground station is responsible for receiving signals from a satellite and possibly transmitting commands and/or communication material to a satellite. For the reception of satellite signals the ground station employs an antenna to "capture" the satellite signal. All antennas have a beamwidth, an angular range over which they can detect a signal, which is determined by the size or aperture of the antenna and the frequency of operation. The larger the antenna, the smaller will be its beamwidth, and the higher the frequency of operation, the smaller the beamwidth.

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Any received signal has to compete with background noise. A parameter known as the signal to noise ratio (SNR) determines whether the antenna receives a useable signal. For normal communications, the power of the signal of interest must be at least 10 dB (a factor of ten) above whatever background noise is present, to be useable. Noise in a system comes from two sources; internal and external. Every receiver generates some internal noise. This may be minimised by careful design, but cannot be entirely eliminated, and eventually sets a limit on all communication. External noise enters via the receiving antenna, and comes from any sources (other than the desired satellite) that may coincidentally lie within the beamwidth of the antenna. The sun, with a temperature that may vary from 6000 to 2 million degrees, is a strong source of radio noise, moving across the sky daily and possibly entering the beam of the receive antenna. For geosats this tends to happen around the equinoxes (March and September), when the declination (celestial latitude) of the sun equals the apparent declination of the geosat. When this occurs, the satellite signal must compete against the solar noise signal. Even at times of low solar activity, this signal is typically about 20 decibels (a factor of 100 in power) above the typical C-band (4 GHz) satellite TV transponder. All satellite communications are subject to "sun-outages" described above. Systems that have small beamwidths and high SNR's will be most resistant to a sun-outage. Systems with large beamwidths and low signal to noise ratios will be more affected. The sun's radio noise also increases with frequency, so K band systems will often be at greater risk than C band systems. Even satellite communication systems which have proven robust on occasions of quiet solar conditions, may be affected during an energetic solar event where the radio noise output at all frequencies can rise by several orders of magnitude. Next, we will discuss on the effects of the propagating signal. The ionosphere is a region of the upper atmosphere that extends from about 70 to 500 km in altitude. It is a region where some of the atoms have had their outer electrons removed by extreme ultra-violet (EUV) and Xray radiation coming from the sun. The atmosphere is thus said to be partially ionised - hence the name, ionosphere. An ionised gas is also referred to as plasma. Plasma is conductive, and because of this it will interact with electromagnetic signals (eg radio waves) that pass through it.
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In fact, below a certain frequency (the plasma frequency, which is proportional to the square root of the plasma electron density), a plasma will reflect a radio signal incident upon it. It is this property that allows the propagation of high frequency (HF) or shortwave signals around the globe. Above the plasma frequency, a signal will not be reflected, but will still be refracted or bent as is traverses the plasma. The higher the frequency of the radio signal, the less the bending. The ionosphere is not a uniform layer of plasma. Its density changes with time of day, altitude, latitude, season and solar activity. It may contain irregularities such as patches, clumps, and troughs of ionisation. It is also a dispersive medium, that is, one through which signals of different frequencies travel at slightly different velocities. At the lowest altitudes it also tends to absorb radio waves rather than reflect them. All these characteristics cause a variety of effects on propagating electromagnetic signals. Direct absorption at low altitudes and reflection at higher altitudes only occurs for signals below about 30 MHz, so these are not usually a problem for satellite communications. However, refraction (bending) and dispersion are important issues for satellite links. In a uniform ionosphere, refraction is an important consideration for radars tracking space objects as it causes them to see the object in a position displaced from the true one. This is the same as looking at an object immersed in water which appears displaced from where it really is, due to the refraction (bending) of light. Dispersion causes signal delay and differential delay in wideband communication systems that can be a problem. Another phenomenon, the Faraday effect, occurs when a signal propagates through a plasma in the presence of a magnetic field. The result is a rotation of the plane of polarisation of a plane polarised signal. When the ionosphere contains irregularities, we are faced with the phenomenon of scintillation. This effect is considered the scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is a rapid fluctuation in the signal strength of a trans-ionospheric signal (eg from satellite to ground station). Effectively scintillation introduces an additional low frequency noise component on the signal.

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Scintillation, which is similar to the visible twinkling of stars in the night sky, is caused by small-scale irregularities in the ionosphere. That is, instead of a uniform layer of ionisation, certain regions of the ionosphere are subject to patches of lower or higher density ionisation. These irregularities preferentially form in two different regions over the Earth - the polar, or more correctly the auroral regions (both north and south), and the equatorial regions. In the polar regions, ionospheric irregularities are caused by particles precipitating down into the ionosphere from the magnetosphere (the same particles that produce the visible aurora). Flows of these particles cause bubbles and troughs which are not stable and at whose edges scintillations are the strongest. Auroral scintillations may occur at any time of day, but tend to be stronger at night, and when geomagnetic activity is high ( example during geomagnetic storms). In the equatorial regions, after sunset, bubbles of ionisation form at the bottom of the ionosphere and rise upward during the night forming vertical plumes (which can also be moving horizontally). Signals that propagate near the edges of these plumes are subject to the most intense scintillations. Equatorial scintillations are thus basically a night-time phenomenon, with most of the plumes disappearing by midnight, although some do persist into the early morning hours. Equatorial scintillations increase in strength as the sun's extreme ultra-violet (EUV) and X-ray output increases (which produces a thicker and more strongly ionised ionosphere). Thus their intensity follows the approximately 11 year solar cycle. They also display a 27 day periodicity due to the solar rotation, since the EUV producing plage is distributed unevenly across the solar surface. Both the phase and intensity of a trans-ionospheric signal are affected by scintillations. Intensity fluctuations, which may occasionally be large enough to cause deep signal fades, are not caused by signal absorption within the ionospheric irregularities, but rather by a phase change of various parts of the signal wavefront. Constructive and destructive interference of various signal paths as observed on the ground, produce the observed changes in signal strength. It is equatorial scintillations that are of most significance for geosynchronous satellites. These are found to be greatest within 20 degrees north and south of the geomagnetic equator, which is close to the geographic equator. A signal that transits the ionosphere at a geomagnetic
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latitude of around 15 to 20 degrees will be most affected. The geomagnetic equator changes as a function of longitude. Over parts of the world from the middle east to Australia, the geomagnetic equator is well north of the geographic equator. Over the Americas, the geomagnetic equator is well south of the geographic equator, as shown in the world maps below. Water vapour is particularly damaging to signals above about 2 GHz, causing absorption of signals which becomes greater as the frequency increases. K-band signals (10-20 GHz) are particularly susceptible, and precipitation in the vicinity of satellite ground stations can cause total loss of signal. Again, signals with low elevations are more affected than those propagating near the zenith, because the wave has to follow a longer path through the atmosphere. At frequencies above 20 GHz we start to encounter resonant absorption at specific frequencies. Oxygen, in particular, will absorb electromagnetic energy only at certain welldefined frequencies. These frequencies correspond exactly to the energies required to lift the Oxygen atoms into higher energy states. Satellite communication links are designed to avoid these well known frequency bands. Damage to a communications satellite may occur following a solar energetic particle event such as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Damage could be anything from a momentary glitch through to significant subsystem damage, reduced satellite lifetime or complete loss of the satellite. Generally, the larger the solar particle event the greater the damage. When the sun lies in the beam of the satellite ground station, the satellite signal will experience a reduced signal to noise ratio. For geosynchronous satellites the problem occurs regularly around the time of the equinoxes, and may cause complete loss of signal for a period ranging from a few minutes to an hour or so. The "sun-outage" effect can be significantly increased during periods of high solar radio burst activity. Satellite communications using lower frequencies (VHF through L-band) can experience significant short term signal losses (dropouts) due to ionospheric scintillations. The problem is minimal when the signal path lies in the mid-latitudes, but can become severe when the signal passes through either the equatorial ionosphere or the polar ionosphere. Equatorial scintillations

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are particularly bad in certain parts of the world (eg Arabian Gulf), and will be important for northern Australian stations communicating via a geosynchronous satellite. Such equatorial scintillations affect systems mostly after sunset until a few hours after midnight. Increased solar and geomagnetic activity increase the severity of the effects. Wideband systems are more affected than narrowband systems. Satellite systems using linear polarisation multiplexing (horizontal/vertical) can experience signal depolarisation due to Faraday rotation of the signal as it passes through the ionosphere. The effect is more severe at the lower (VHF) frequencies, but at times of high solar activity even C-band systems may experience an effect. The effect is to reduce the signal strength of the desired signal and to cross couple power from the undesired (orthogonally polarised) channel into the desired channel. Higher frequency signals (X, K and higher bands) are significantly affected by lower atmosphere (troposphere, < 10km altitude) constituents such as clouds, fog, dirt, sand and severe air pollution. Precipitation in the propagation path can cause severe signal attenuation to the point of complete signal loss. Higher frequencies are affected more than the lower bands. At certain discrete frequencies, resonant absorption by atmospheric atoms occurs. These frequencies need to be avoided. There are a number of strategies that may be taken to minimise the effects of space weather on satellite communication systems. As far as the satellites themselves are concerned, the first step should occur in the design phase prior to launch. Satellite design can minimise the potential for spacecraft charging, and the consequent discharging that may cause damage to components. This is done by choice of materials, surface contours and adequate "ground" bonding. Once in orbit, an astute satellite operator may be able to orient a satellite to minimise damage from high energy particles (mostly protons) resulting from a SEP event, given adequate warning by the appropriate space weather agency. A satellite controller might also choose not to upload commands during such events. To maintain satellite attitude, particularly in low earth

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orbits (LEOs), the controller might wish to perform a "momentum dump" to make sure that the satellite reaction wheels are not at maximum rpm when the disturbance arrives. Sun-outage effects can only be mitigated by using more than one satellite, at different orbital locations. Traffic might be temporarily redirected to the satellite which is not in front of the sun at the specific time. Such "spatial diversity" might also be applied to tropospheric absorption to avoid local regions of high precipitation. Ionospheric scintillations occur at particular times of the day and it might be possible to schedule traffic so that peak demand does not occur during the evening hours, or to use an alternative link during this time. Signal depolarisation can be overcome by rotating the antenna feed to compensate for the changing rotation produced by the Faraday effect. An automatic adaptive system might be employed either by the ground station or by the satellite controller who monitor the effect with a beacon transmission from the satellite in question. Even if it is not possible or feasible to take definitive action to eliminate a problem associated with space weather, it is always important for satellite operators to know whether a problem has been caused by a space weather effect or from a hardware or software failure. Radio waves are the lowest frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, and are used mainly for communications.

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Figure 6

Electromagnetic spectrum

Radio waves are divided into long wave which around 1 till 2 km in wavelength. Medium wave will be around 100 m in wavelength. VHF, which stands for Very High Frequency and has wavelengths of around 2 m. This is where the stereo FM radio station will be found. UHF stands for Ultra High Frequency, and has wavelengths of less than a metre. Its used for Police radio telecommunications, television transmission and military aircraft radios, although military communications are also now mostly digital and encrypted.

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Figure 7

Radio Frequency

We know that radio waves are present everywhere in the atmosphere around us. These waves can pass through almost everything; even the concrete walls (but not the metals perhaps). That is why we can watch our TV, listen to our radios and mobile phones everywhere. Radio waves are harmful. Beside radio waves many other waves are spreading incurable diseases in living creatures. Waves/Radiations from Television, Radio, Mobile telephone and many other cordless devices are emitting waves or radiations. These are very much harmful. There two categories of radiation which are ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation.

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Figure 8

Types of radiation

In the satellite of communication, it is only emitted the non-ionizing radiation as shown on the table above. However, biologically these radiations may cause cancer and leukemia. When radio frequencies are high enough, they can break down the tissue in the human body and can interfere with the DNA. However, it is claimed that emissions from cell phones are so small that they pose no danger. Here are the statistics shows some biological effect of radio waves. Some Biological Effects of Radio Waves are as follow which studied by the person stated. They are sleep disorders, abnormal BP, nervousness, weakness, fatigue, limb & joint pain, digestive problems (human children) (Altpeter, 1995, 97), limit of human sensation (Kolbun, 1987), altered EEG & carbohydrate metabolism (Dumanskij, 1974), enlarged adrenals & adrenal hormone levels, structural changes in liver, spleen, testes, & Impaired motor function, reaction time, memory & attention (human children) (Kolodynski, 1996), change in calcium ion efflux from brain tissue (Dutta, 1986), cardiac arrhythmia & cardiac arrest (frogs) (Frey, 1968), headache, dizziness, irritability, fatigue, weakness, insomnia, chest pain, difficult breathing, indigestion (human occupational exposure) (Simonenko, 1998), Biochemical & histological changes in liver, heart,

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kidney, & brain tissue (Belokrinitskiy, 1982), Leukemia, melanoma, & bladder cancer (Dolk, 1997). Extremely high power electromagnetic radiation also can cause electric currents strong enough to create sparks (electrical arcs) when an induced voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of the surrounding medium for example air. These sparks can then ignite flammable materials or gases, possibly leading to an explosion. Other than that, strong radiation can induce current capable of delivering an electric shock to persons or animals. It can also overload and destroy electrical equipment. The induction of currents by oscillating magnetic fields is also the way in which solar storms disrupt the operation of electrical and electronic systems, causing damage to and even the explosion of power distribution transformers, blackouts (as in 1989), and interference with electromagnetic signals for example radio, TV, and telephone signals.

Figure 9

Thunder Storm

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Even though, there are much impact of the radio waves propagate by the satellite of communication, but there are also some advantages of radio waves. Satellites offer a number of
important features, which are not readily available with others means of communication. Some of them are very large area of earth is visible from satellite (about 42%) for example; communication is possible beyond earth curvature (beyond line of sight). Satellite also offers communication with remote communities in sparsely populated area, which are difficult to access by other means of communication. Satellite communication ignores political boundaries as well as geographical boundaries. It also provides communication with moving aircraft from ground control station across the country. There are pros and cons of the satellite especially in the communication area and its depend on how we as human handle it and manage the effect of the radiation. There are many precautions stated by the government or the official bodies who study this are.

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2.3 THE SOLAR SYSTEM - ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS AND COMETS.

The solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. It includes the satellites of the planets, numerous comets, asteroids, and meteoroids and the interplanetary medium.

Figure 10

The Solar system

In this assignment, we will discuss about the asteroids, meteoroids and comets. Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun but are too small to be considered as planets. They are known as minor planets. They are material left over from the formation of the solar system. Most asteroids in the solar system orbit in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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Figure 11

Belt of asteroid

One theory suggests that they are the remains of a planet that was destroyed in a massive collision long time ago. More likely, asteroids are material that never coalesced into a planet. In fact, if the estimated total mass of all asteroids was gathered into a single object, the object would be less than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) across which is less than half the diameter of our Moon.

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Figure 12

Asteroid

Figure 13

Asteroid position

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Asteroids are classified into different types according to their albedo, Composition derived from spectral features in their reflected sunlight, and inferred similarities to known meteorite types. Albedo refers to an object's measure of reflectivity, or intrinsic brightness. The types mentioned are C-type asteroids which have albedos smaller than 0.06 and would look very dark to our eyes. And they are probably made of carbon-rich material similar to that in carbonaceous chondrites. S-type asteroids have albedos of 0.1 to 0.2 so they would look brighter and spectoscopically redder. S-type asteroids are believed to be rocky. S-type asteroids are very common in the inner asteroid belt. Their spectroscopic colors are different from the chondrites and this is the most common kind of meteorite. It seems that the most common kind of meteorite comes from the most common kind of asteroid. Lastly is M-type asteroid. They appear to be metal rich and me be the iron cores of fragmented asteroids.

The asteroids is part of celestial body, there are many types of asteroids such as Amor asteroid, Amphitrite asteroid, Apollo asteroids (Earth-crossing asteroid), Ceres asteroid, Chiron, EROS asteroid, Gaspra asteroid and Icarus asteroid. The Amor asteroid and Apollo asteroids are known as near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).

Next, Asteroids that are on a collision course with Earth are called meteoroids. These little chunks of rock and debris in space, as they enter our atmosphere and plummet towards the ground, they burn up and produce brief flash of light. As they burned up, they become meteors or also known as shooting stars when they fall through a planet's atmosphere and leaving a bright trail as they are heated to incandescence by the friction of the atmosphere. Then the pieces that survive the journey and hit the ground are called meteorites.

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Figure 14

Meteor

Meteoroids travel through Earths orbital space at an average speed of 20 km/s (44 000 mph). An average 40 000 metric tons of micrometeoroids, small dust particles, enter the Earths atmosphere each year.

Meteorites

Meteor

Meteoroids

Figure 15

Changes of meteoroids call name

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The properties of meteorites suggest that they formed in the solar nebula. All the meteorites examined, 92.8 percent are composed of silicate (stone), and 5.7 percent are composed of iron and nickel; the rest are a mixture of the three materials. Stony meteorites are the hardest to identify since they look very much like terrestrial rocks. Their radioactive ages are about 4.6 billion years. Meteorites almost certainly do not come from comets. Most cometary particles are very small specs of low-density, almost fluffy material. Although most meteors come from comets, most meteorites are stronger chunks of matter, more like fragments of asteroids. Meteorites have proven difficult to classify, but the three broadest groupings are stony, stony iron, and iron. The most common meteorites are chondrites, which are stony meteorites. Radiometric dating of chondrites has placed them at the age of 4.55 billion years, which is the approximate age of the solar system. They are considered pristine samples of early solar system matter, although in many cases their properties have been modified by thermal metamorphism or icy alteration.

Figure 16

The Meteorite

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The motion of meteoroids can be severely perturbed by the gravitational fields of major planets. Jupiter's gravitational influence is capable of reshaping an asteroid's orbit from the main belt so that it dives into the inner solar system and crosses the orbit of Earth.

Next is comet. Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies. Comets are cosmic snowballs composed of a mixture of non-volatile grains and frozen gases, rock and dust roughly the size of a small town. Comets are also been refer as dirty snowballs. It consists mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. Each comet has a tiny frozen part, called a nucleus, often no bigger than a few kilometers across.

Figure 17

The comet

The nucleus contains icy chunks and frozen gases with bits of embedded rock and dust. The nucleus may have a small rocky core. When a comet's orbit brings it close to the sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the sun for millions of kilometers. The home of comets lies far beyond the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto, in the Oort Cloud which about 100,000 astronomical units (AU) (that is, 100,000 times the distance between Earth and the sun) from the sun. These Oort Cloud comets can take as long as 30 million years to complete one trip around the sun.

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Figure 18

Comet

Figure 19

The Oort Cloud

Comet structures are diverse and very dynamic, but they all warms up as it nears the sun and develop a surrounding cloud of diffuse material called a coma. The sun's heat causes ices on the nucleus surface to change to gases so that the coma gets larger. The coma may be hundreds of thousands of kilometers in diameter. The pressure of sunlight and high-speed solar particles, known as solar wind blows the coma materials away from the sun, forming a long, and sometimes bright, tail. Comets actually have two tails, a dust tail and a plasma (ionized gas) tail.
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Figure 20

Coma Cluster

As more details, the coma and the nucleus together constitute the head of the comet. As comets approach the Sun they develop enormous tails of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometers from the head, away from the Sun. When far from the Sun, the nucleus is very cold and its material is frozen solid within the nucleus. In this state comets are sometimes referred to as a "dirty iceberg" or "dirty snowball," since over half of their material is ice. When a comet approaches within a few AU (astronomical unit- average distance from the Earth to the Sun; 1 AU is equal to 149,597,870 kilometers (92,960,116 miles)) of the Sun, the surface of the nucleus begins to warm, and volatiles evaporate. The evaporated molecules boil off and carry small solid particles with them, forming the comet's coma of gas and dust. When the nucleus is frozen, it can be seen only by reflected sunlight. However, when a coma develops, dust reflects still more sunlight, and gas in the coma absorbs ultraviolet radiation and begins to fluoresce. At about 5 AU from the Sun, fluorescence usually becomes more intense than reflected light.

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As the comet absorbs ultraviolet light, chemical processes release hydrogen, which escapes the comet's gravity, and forms a hydrogen envelope. This envelope cannot be seen from Earth because its light is absorbed by our atmosphere, but it has been detected by spacecraft. The Sun's radiation pressure and solar wind accelerate materials away from the comet's head at differing velocities according to the size and mass of the materials. Thus, relatively massive dust tails are accelerated slowly and tend to be curved. The ion tail is much less massive, and is accelerated so greatly that it appears as a nearly straight line extending away from the comet opposite the Sun. The following view of Comet West shows two distinct tails. The thin blue plasma tail is made up of gases and the broad white tail is made up of microscopic dust particles. Basically that is how tail of comet occurred. Earth has gone through periods of abrupt and catastrophic change, some due to the impact of large asteroids and comets on the Earth. The collision of large meteorite, asteroid, comet or other celestial object the Earth might cause the big impact on earth. This is also known as impact event. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant localized consequences.

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Figure 21

Impact of Meteoroids

An impact event in an ocean or sea may create a tsunami (a giant wave), which can cause destruction both at sea and on land along the coast. A few of these impacts may have caused massive climate change and the extinction of large numbers of plant and animal species due to the impact of large asteroids, and comet on the Earth.

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Figure 22

Impact of Meteoroid

Figure 23

Tsunami

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There are numerous places on Earth which is a significant impact site, such as Barringer Crater in the state of Arizona, USA, or the Henbury Crater in Australia. Every day the Earth is bombarded by tons of material from space, mostly space particles and tiny meteors, of which only a very few make it to the surface as meteorites. The probability of collision with a meteoroid large enough (greater than 1 cm) to create significant damage is remote. So many impacts, some huge, would have provided a prodigious amount of energy to the earth. Such an amount of energy, especially delivered quickly and not over millions and billions of years, would have many effects on the earth. It is beyond the scope of this paper to estimate the effects of this energy, but regardless the amount would have been devastating.

Figure 24

Small body explosion

For an example, the Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m on June 30, 1908. The explosion is believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5 10 kilometres (3 -6 mi) above the Earths surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates of the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across. Other than that, the impact cause by these celestial bodies is flood. Since the Flood requires energy,
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meteorite impacts could easily provide the necessary energy to start and maintain the Flood. A number of creationists have suggested impacts as the source of this energy, regardless of whether catastrophic plate tectonics occurred later or not.

Figure 25

Tunguska event

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PART C: PRESENTABLE SLIDES OF LEARNING ACTIVITY FOR FORM FOUR STUDENTS

3.1 THE SOLAR SYSTEM- ASTEROIDS, METEOROIDS AND COMETS.

Please refer to the following attachment.

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REFERRENCES Adamchuk, V. I. (2003). EC03-702 Precision Agriculture: Applications of Remote Sensing, Extension Historical Materials: University of Nebraska

Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research Volume 78, Issue 2, February 2001, Pages 117-125 retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021863400906309

Anil Kumar (2007). Agriculture Today, New Delhi (Experiences) Cross posted with Food and Nutrition Security Community: New Delhi retrieved from http://portal.unesco.org/geography/en/ev.phpURL_ID=8041&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1219&context=natrespapers

http://www.iasri.res.in/ebook/EB_SMAR/e-book_pdf%20files/Manual%20IV/4 Remote%20Sensing%20and%20GIS.pdf http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/intrdisc/ag/ag.html http://www.satellites.spacesim.org/english/function/communic/index.html http://visual.merriam-webster.com/communications/communications/telecommunicationsatellites.php http://www.wifinotes.com/computer-networks/how-satellite-communication-works.html http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/3376.aspx#ixzz1QCVCwYUa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PanAmSat#Satellite_Fleet

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http://www.satellitetoday.com/via/globalreg/The-Environmental-Impact-of-SatelliteCommunications_31807.html http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/asteroids.txt http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/asteroid-20061219.html http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/dictionary/Asteroid.html http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Asteroids http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Comets http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons/cometstale/student_worksheets/Astronomers_Revie w_II_Origins_key.pdf http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/space-environment/1-asteroid-planetiodmeteoroid.html http://www.solarviews.com/eng/terms.htm#astunit http://www.solarviews.com/eng/comet.html http://nineplanets.org/overview.html http://flynt.pbworks.com/w/page/9198219/asteroid-belt http://space.about.com/cs/asteroids/a/2003qq47impacta.html http://www.awhir.com/design/nasa/Meteoroids%20and%20Orbital%20Debris-%20Effects%20on%20Spacecraft%20rp1408.pdf http://meteor.uwo.ca/~pbrown/chap2.pdf http://www.terrapub.co.jp/journals/EPS/pdf/5006_07/50060555.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117797004286 http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/references.html#asteroids

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http://www.solarviews.com/eng/edu/craters.html http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/ http://www.astronomynotes.com/solfluf/s5.htm http://space.about.com/cs/asteroids/a/2003qq47impacta.htm http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j23_3/j23_3_61-69.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event http://scitechstory.com/impact-areas/impact-event/

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