In 1958, the Soviet Union (now Russia) launched a satellite called Sputnik. This was the beginning of the “space race” between the United States and the Soviet Union, where each country tried to outdo the other with advanced space technologies. The first American satellite (Telstar I) was launched four years later, in 1962. The Telstar I could carry 600 telephone calls at one time. There are over 200 international communication satellites in orbit today. These satellites can carry 33,000 telephone calls at once and technology is always being developed to increase this number.

Satellites orbit the Earth, and most can reach about 40% of the Earth’s surface. This means that three can cover every part of the globe. Local television and telephone companies can send digital images and electronic signals to the satellite, and the satellite in turn can send these images and signals to huge ground receivers in other parts of the world.

These ground receivers then transmit (send) the signals to stations and homes within that part of the globe. Increasingly, people are receiving broadcasts in their own homes through small satellite dishes in backyards and on windowsills. Because satellites stay in geostationary orbit (meaning that they stay within the pull of Earth’s gravity), they use very little energy to run, often lasting for years on the energy of a single light bulb.