Satellites in Modern Society What do people think of when they think of satellites? A big piece of metal floating in space? According to Merrium-Webster, a satellite is a machine sent into space that moves around the earth, moon, sun, or planet. Satellites help Americans without them even realizing it. Every day Americans call people across the country, watch television and listen to the radio, but how do they plan to do it? The answer is almost always satellites. Satellites impact America in weather, search and rescue programs, and astronomy. When severe weather approaches, satellites are the reason meteorologists are able to inform Americans about the weather so quickly. In the article “Hurricane: Tracking and Researching Hurricanes,” satellite imagery is important to meteorologists because by piecing together hours of images from moving satellites, they can gather information about the trajectory and development of a tropical cyclone. This helps Americans know where the cyclone will hit and when it will hit. Although we have discovered new technology that has helped Americans immensely, research into new things never stops. According to Scientific American, “The Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) plans to launch new geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites with greater resolution, helping meteorologists better predict the path a nascent storm will take, as well as its intensity. " They also stated that "the meteorologist would be able to give residents of the United States an average of fourteen minutes warning before a tornado occurs, for example" ("Improving Weather Prediction"). Natural disasters occur every day in America and satellites help us know... half of the paper... California Technical Institute employees hope this will provide them with clear images of the Earth to help them with further research in the future. It is important for Americans to know where they live and the astronomical satellites they provide them with that information. Weather, search and rescue programs, and astronomy are just three of the many ways satellites have impacted Americans. Satellites have made Americans' lives easier and helped them discover new things that they would never have known without them. We now know more about the world than we ever knew before, and we are still learning new ways to discover more about Earth. Satellites have saved countless lives and help us prepare for natural disasters that could occur at any time. Without satellites our world would be drastically different and we wouldn't know most of the things we do today without them.