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Nov 20, 2021 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Today in pulp... early satellites!
Arthur C Clarke wasn't the first to come up with the idea of satellites, but his 1945 essay in Wireless World did popularise the idea of geo-stationary communication satellites: though these would rely on valve technology.
And 20 years later in 1955 The US announced they would put a satellite into orbit in 1957 to mark International Geophysical Year, using a modified Jupiter rocket caled Juno 1. The satellite - called Explorer 1 - would carry a number of scientific instruments.
However the Soviet Union had already started work on its own scientific satellite - Object D - carrying a range of complex instruments. Delays in developing these led to the simpler Sputnik 1 being launched on 4 October 1957, beating the US into space by four months.
Sputnik 1's launch came very close to failure: one of the boosters of its R-7 Semyorka rocket did not reach full power at launch. It achieved full thrust with less than a second to spare before the automatic engine shut down command was due to activate.
Explorer 1 finally launched on 1 February 1958 from Cape Canaveral, though not without incident: due to changes in the rotational axis of the rocket after launch Explorer 1 ended up in a higher orbit than expected.
Object D - now named Sputnik 3 - was finally launched on 15 May 1958. Russia had attempted to launch it on 27 April but a booster failure on the R-7 launch rocket caused it to crash shortly after lift off. Fortunately Sputnik 3 was mostly intact and could be relaunched.
France was the next nation to develop its own satellite launch capability. The A1 satellite - later renamed Astérix - was launched from Hammaguir, Algeria in 1965 using a Diamant A rocket. The Diamant project would lead to the founding of the European Space Agency in 1975.
China became the fourth country to launch a satellite using its own rocket on 24 April 1970. Dong Fang Hong ('The East Is Red') was launched using a Long March 1 rocket, and is still in orbit today.
Britain had worked on its own satellite launch capability in the 1960s, although budget cuts severely hampered its Black Arrow rocket project. The rockets were powered by a mix of parrafin and hydrogen peroxide and on 28 October 1971 they finally launched the Prospero satellite.
Telstar wasn't the first communications satellite but it was probably the most famous. Launched on 10 July 1962 it relayed the first TV pictures across the Atlantic, as well as influencing a number 1 hit record.
Relay 1 was launched a few months after Telstar, on 13 December 1962. As well as measuring the Earth's radiation belts it enabled a TV relay from America to Japan. In 1964 it also provided relay pictures from the Tokyo Olympics.
Uhuru was the first satellite specifically designed for X-ray astronomy. It launched on 12 December 1970 from from the Italian BSC spaceport off the coast of Kenya and helped examine X-rays from Cygnus X-1, confirming it as a black hole.
Almost 8,900 satellites have now been launched with over 5,000 still in orbit. That's a lot of metal floating above our heads!
So one satellite we need to develop is a junk catcher. Broken satellites, rocket parts and other debris make up half a million pieces of space junk now circling the earth: including 30 elderly nuclear powered satellites! We need to get cleaning...

More stories another time...

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More from @PulpLibrarian

Jun 30
Given the current heatwave, I feel obliged to ask my favourite question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?

Let's find out... Image
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say. Image
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile. Image
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Jun 29
Time once again for my occasional series "Women with great hair fleeing gothic houses!"

Let's see what's in the library... Image
The Voice of the House, by Margaret Erskine (an Inspector Finch Gothic Mystery). Ace Gothic, 1973.

She'll fall over if she leans like that. Image
The Three Sisters of No End House, by Mona Farnsworth. Ace Gothic, 1972.

I said she'll fall over if she leans like that! Image
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Jun 27
Today in pulp I look back at the publishing phenomenon of gamebooks: novels in which YOU are the hero!

A pencil and dice may be required for this thread... Image
Image
Gamebooks are a simple but addictive concept: you control the narrative. At the end of each section of the story you are offered a choice of outcomes, and based on that you turn to the page indicated to see what happens next. Image
Gamebook plots are in fact complicated decision tree maps: one or more branches end in success, but many more end in failure! It's down to you to decide which path to tread. Image
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Jun 18
Time for a pulp countdown now, and today it's my top 10 public relations campaigns! Image
At no 10: prunes! Let's get this party started. Image
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Read 12 tweets
Jun 15
You know what I haven't done in a while? Bad book covers!

Let's change that... Image
Ooh you little lyre... Guardian Angels, by Joseph Citro. Zebra Books, 1988. Image
How I answer the door in the mornings... Encounters With Aliens, by George W. Earley. Charter House, 1978. Image
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May 11
He was the terror of London; a demonic figure with glowing eyes and fiery breath who could leap ten feet high. The penny dreadfuls of the time wrote up his exploits in lurid terms. But who was he really?

Today I look at one of the earliest pulp legends: Spring-Heeled Jack! Image
London has always attracted ghosts, and in the 19th Century they increasingly left their haunted houses and graveyards and began to wader the capital's streets.

But one apparition caught the Victorian public attention more than most... Image
In October 1837 a 'leaping character' with a look of the Devil began to prey on Londoners. Often he would leap high into the air and land in front of a carriage, causing it to crash. It would then flee with a high-pitched laugh.

The public soon named him "Spring-Heeled Jack." Image
Read 14 tweets

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