Space
Space
10 Aerospace terms
This glossary serves the purpose of being a dictionary for an essay to avoid confusion between certain terms that have certain similarities.
- Celestial body
- noun
- An object that exists naturally in space such as a star, a planet, or an asteroid.
- Example: A black hole is an extremely dense celestial object formed by the collapse of a massive star.
- cosmos
- noun
- the universe considered as a system with an order and pattern
- Example: The brightest objects in the cosmos are pulsars.
- Galaxy
- noun
- A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter.
- Example: Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, but not the biggest planet in the Galaxy.
- Global positioning system (GPS)
- noun
- global positioning system: a system that can show the exact position of a person or thing by using signals from satellites
- Example: The unit uses GPS to determine the delivery truck's position.
- Greenhouse gas
- noun
- a gas that causes the greenhouse effect, especially carbon dioxide
- Example: We need a global system for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
- Launch
- Verb
- To send something out, such as a new ship into the water or a spacecraft into space.
- Example: To launch a missile.
- orbit
- noun
- the curved path through which objects in space move around a planet or star:
- Example: Once in space, the spacecraft will go into orbit around Earth.
- Probe
- Noun
- A small spacecraft, with no one travelling in it, sent into space to make measurements and send back information to scientists on earth.
- Example: This on the spot investigation is obviously impossible if radio signals are sent out instead of a space probe.
- Satellite
- Noun
- A device sent up into space to travel around the earth, used for collecting information or communicating by radio, television.
- Example: Satellites help meteorologists predict the weather.
- fr: Satellite
- Spacecraft
- noun
- A spacecraft is a vehicle designed to travel and operate in outer space
- Example: The spacecraft sends a beacon signal to the ground indicating how urgent it is to track the spacecraft for telemetry.