Viking (satellite)

Viking was Sweden's first satellite. It was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket as a piggyback payload together with the French satellite SPOT 1, on February 22, 1986. Operations ended on May 12, 1987. Viking was used to explore plasma processes in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere.

Spacecraft

Space was limited underneath the SPOT 1 satellite, and Viking had to be quite sturdy in order to withstand the stress of launch. The basic shape of the Swedish satellite was a flat octagonal disc, 0.5 metres thick and 1.9 metres across. The mechanical interface of the payload adapter from the Ariane rocket was duplicated on top of Viking. This enabled it to be added to the launch with a minimum of redesign of the SPOT satellite. After SPOT had been released, Viking fired its own rocket engine and was sent into its proper polar orbit.

Mission

Once in orbit, 4 wire segments of 40 metre length each were spooled out in a radial direction from the edge of the spinning satellite disc. Also, 2 stiff rods of 4 metre length were extended in the axial direction. A sensor pod was stationed at the end of each of these, forming three orthogonal pairs. Together they could measure the electric field of the earth in all three dimensions. Stiff booms were also extended for other types of sensors and antennas.

Vikings

Vikings (Norwegian and Danish: Vikinger; Swedish and Nynorsk: Vikingar; Icelandic: Víkingar), from Old Norse víkingr, were Germanic Norse seafarers, speaking the Old Norse language, who raided and traded from their Scandinavian homelands across wide areas of northern and central Europe, as well as European Russia, during the late 8th to late 11th centuries. The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. This period of Norse military, mercantile and demographic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, Ireland, France, Kievan Rus' and Sicily.

Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Following extended phases of (primarily sea- or river-borne) exploration, expansion and settlement, Viking (Norse) communities and polities were established in diverse areas of north-western Europe, European Russia, the North Atlantic islands and as far as the north-eastern coast of North America. This period of expansion witnessed the wider dissemination of Norse culture, while simultaneously introducing strong foreign cultural influences into Scandinavia itself, with profound developmental implications in both directions.

Viking (comics)

Viking is a creator-owned comic book series published by Image Comics. It is written by its creator, Ivan Brandon, with art by Nic Klein.

Publication history

The first issue appeared April 22, 2009 but had sold out before it went on sale.

The fifth issue appeared in January 2010, and finished the first arc. No more issues were published afterwards.

Characters

Plot synopsis

Issue 1

Date of Publication: 22 April 2009

Egil and Finn kill a group of Vikings led by a man named Knut, stealing their cache of weapons for their own purporses, leaving one messenger alive to tout their bravado. Upon reception of his message, this messenger is put to death by Aki and King Bram.

Viking Press

Viking Press is an American publishing company now owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975.

The firm's name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the ideas of adventure, exploration, and enterprise implied by the word "Viking".

The house has been home to many prominent authors of fiction, non-fiction, and play scripts. Five Viking authors have been awarded Nobel Prizes for Literature and one received the Nobel Peace Prize; Viking books have also won numerous Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and other important literary prizes.

Viking publishes approximately 100 books a year. It is notable for publishing both successful commercial fiction and acclaimed literary fiction and non-fiction, and its paperbacks are most often published by Penguin Books. Viking's current president is Brian Tart.

The Viking Children's Book department was established in 1933; its founding editor was May Massee. Viking Kestrel was one of its imprints. Its books have won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, and include such books as The Twenty-One Balloons, written and illustrated by William Pene du Bois (1947, Newbery medal winner for 1948), Corduroy, Make Way for Ducklings, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (1993), The Outsiders, Pippi Longstocking, and The Story of Ferdinand. Its paperbacks are published by Puffin Books, which includes the Speak and Firebird imprints. Viking Children's current publisher is Kenneth Wright.

Satellite (Axle Whitehead song)

"Satellite" is an alternative rock and pop song by Australian alternative rock and pop singer-songwriter Axle Whitehead from his debut album, Losing Sleep.

Airplay

The song receives heavy airplay on the Today Network radio stations in Australia, especially on their automation programs and Australian First.

Satellite (moth)

The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout the Palearctic.

This is a fairly variable species with greyish or reddish brown forewings, often marked with darker bands. The common name derives from the prominent stigma, ranging in colour from white or yellow to red, which has two smaller spots close to it, apparently “in orbit”. The hindwings are brown with a paler fringe. The wingspan is 40–48 mm. This species flies at night from September to April and is active on mild nights throughout the winter. It will come to light but is more strongly attracted to sugar and various flowers.

Distribution

The species ranges from Ireland to Japan. Specifically, south to Northern Spain, Sardinia, Central Italy then Macedonia, Bulgaria, Asia minor and the Caucasus East to Central Asia and the Russian Far East and Siberia before reaching Japan. In the North, the geographical presence extends to Scotland and the Orkney Islands. Individuals are reported by Iceland. In Fennoscandia the range extends almost to the Arctic Circle, as well as in northern Russia. The species is very cold tolerant and lives in a variety of habitats, from forests to open grasslands, from the lowlands up to above the tree line. From temperate areas to the subarctic tundra. The species rises up to 1800 m in the Alps.

Natural satellite

A natural satellite is a celestial body that orbits another celestial body of greater mass (e.g., a planet, star, or dwarf planet), which is called its primary. For example, the Moon is a natural satellite of Earth, and Earth is a natural satellite of the Sun.

In the Solar System there are 173 known natural satellites which orbit within 6 planetary satellite systems. In addition, several other objects are known to have satellites, including three IAU-listed dwarf planets: Pluto, Haumea, and Eris.As of January 2012, over 200 minor-planet moons have been discovered. There are 76 known objects in the asteroid belt with satellites (five with two each), four Jupiter trojans, 39 near-Earth objects (two with two satellites each), and 14 Mars-crossers. There are also 84 known natural satellites of trans-Neptunian objects. Some 150 additional small bodies have been observed within the rings of Saturn, but only a few were tracked long enough to establish orbits. Planets around other stars are likely to have satellites as well, and although numerous candidates have been detected to date, none have yet been confirmed.