Carolyn Angebrandt, age 10 of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for her question:

What does the word satellite mean?

The ancestor of this word was very stylish in the days of ancient Rome. There were emperors, underlings and slaves. A member of the upper crust was attended by his own underlings who obliged him in every way    from dusting his sandals to agreeing with his point of view. An attendant of this sort was called a "satelles." Later the word was changed somewhat and came to mean any person who depends on a more important person. In the non human world, a satellite came to mean a smaller object attached in some way to a larger object. This meaning of satellite was adopted by the astronomers to mean a moon.

The earth's one natural satellite is our golden moon. The earth's gravity holds the moon in captive attendance and the two orbit the sun together. Other planets also have captive satellite moons. But a new type of satellite was born with the space age. Dozens of little man made satellites were launched aloft and held in orbit by the earth's gravity.