Radio-electronics today

Much of our successes in the field of space research is due to radio and electronics. This is why on May 7, Radio Day, we honour the memory of A. Popov, the great Russian scientist who was the first in the world to invent radio as a means of wireless communication. Today, radio or more widely electronics, a very young and a very promising science, has become a powerful tool of progress.

It will give us a deeper knowledge of the properties of outer space. Radio has already helped man to learn more about the sun's atmosphere, the atmosphere of many planets, it enabled our cosmo­nauts to locate their position in space, and there is radio commu­nication not only between the spaceships and their home bases, but also between the spaceships themselves.

¹ Radio is not the only carrier of information in space. There are infra-red and ultra-violet radiation, X- and gamma-rays, elementary particles and fields, etc. The time is not so far off when these and other carriers will be used for space communication — a great ad­vance comparable with Alexander Popov's achievement in putting radio waves at the service of mankind, when he built the first radio receiver.

There are many more uses for electronics besides communica­tions. A good deal of progress made in space would not have been possible without electronic computers making thousands upon thous­ands of operations a second. They solve logical problems, supply

information on many aspects of science and technology, translate from one language into another, automatically control industrial processes, etc. In medicine electronic devices help to diagnose the disease and find the best treatment.

COMMENTARY

is due to radio обусловлен (а) радио

a good deal of progress made in значительный прогресс, достигнутый

thousands upon thousands миллионы

Astronomy and radio

The science of radio astronomy has become the most efficient of all methods of probing the universe. It was the intense development of radio and radar techniques that stimulated the development of radio astronomy and gave astronomy a new and enormously powerful tool for the exploration of space.

The huge parabolic dishes of giant radio telescopes listening to the voices of distant stars majestically domi­nate the landscape for many kilometres around.

Radio telescope is an instrument so penetrating that it can receive radio waves from distances of thousands of millions of light years away. With ordinary telescopes it is possible to work only when the sky is not covered with clouds, whereas clouds are no obstacle to radio tele­scopes.

Radio telescopes are supplied with a precise control system. It takes 15-20 minutes to make a full rotation of the huge reflector.

With the help of a young science—radio astronomy— the astronomers have made great achievements which were undreamt of¹ only a few decades ago.

Radio telescope can measure the temperature of plan­ets, can probe the structure of the planets and provides the astronomers with the data which could not have been received without this wonderful device. In order to achieve better results, highly sensitive reception devices were made for radio telescopes.

Soviet astronomers use radio waves to study celestial bodies on behalf of science,² peace and progress, for the benefit of mankind. Astronomers hope that radio waves will continue helping them to reveal the mysteries of the universe.

Notes:

Which were undreamt of – о которых и не мечтали

On behalf of science – во имя науки