What the Sputniks Said (Jul, 1958) What the Sputniks Said
Russian scientists disclose how radio waves travel from their
satellites to earth By A. J. Steiger Radio LISTENERS who tracked
the earth-circling travels of Sputnik I have reported new
discoveries in short-wave propagation, including a round-the-
world echo, according to preliminary findings published in a
recent issue of Radio, a Russian popular electronics journal.
What the Sputniks discovered about prospects for using solar
power to operate space vehicle instruments is also discussed in
the Moscow journal. These reports on Russia’s pioneer space
vehicles’ discoveries, the first to be published, are translated
here. Propagation Conditions. “Preliminary results of reception
of Sputnik I radio signals,” writes Prof. A. Kazantsev, Doctor
of Technical Sciences, in Radio, “show that in the 15-meter wave
band these signals were received at very great distances, far
surpassing the distance of direct visibility and in a number of
cases reaching 10, 000 kilome