A school satellite tracking station as an aid to the teaching of physics

The major space programmes permit both active and passive participation by schools. They provide numerous illustrations for traditional science courses and a basis for examination questions. Active participation involves observation of satellites by visual, photographic and radio methods. Radio signals exhibit the Faraday and Doppler effects on a grand scale. Systematic observations of signals from Cosmos satellites have led to many deductions about the purpose and behaviour of the 8 day reconnaissance satellites and to the disclosure of the location of an unannounced launch site.