Pam Bryant, age 12, of Broken Row, Oklahoma, for her question:

How does a satellite get its information?

Our orbiting satellites relay masses of information from many different sources. Its equipment parallels the cameras and telescopes, spectroscopes and other instruments we use to gather information down on earth. However, the small satellite could not carry these bulky earth instruments aloft. So special small scale gadgets are designed to pack into its equipment. Some of these gadgets are merely pocket sized versions of their larger relatives. Others are quite different instruments designed to do the same work.

The cameras and telescopes carried by a satellite are like those on earth, only smaller. Spectroscope work is done by small, glassy grids grooved with lines much finer than human hairs. Its radio and batteries carry minescule transistors. A whole new range of satellite sized equipment was designee' and redesigned for the space age. Many of these new ideas are being used in our pocket sized radios and to improve other gadgets in our daily lives down here on the ground.