Information and Communication Technology · Classes 11-12 · Chapter 1 · 1.3.4 to 1.3.6

Space Exploration, ICT Dependent Production and Defence.

Open a map on your phone and a blue dot shows where you stand. The sums behind it come from machines orbiting about 36,000 km up. In space, in factories and in the armed forces, ICT now does the heavy lifting.

1. Space exploration

When a spacecraft, with or without astronauts, breaks free of the earth's gravity and goes at least 100 kilometres above the surface, outside the atmosphere, that is space exploration.

The book gives five milestones: 4 October 1957, the first satellite, Sputnik. 12 April 1961, the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. 20 July 1969, the first human landing on the moon. 2 December 1971, Mars-3 lands on Mars. 12 April 1981, the first Space Shuttle launch. Put the shuffled cards below into date order.

The book states who did what in one sentence: the moon landing and the Space Shuttle belonged to the United States. Sputnik, Gagarin and Mars-3 belonged to the then Soviet Union. Recall that sentence and sort the five.

To leave earth a spacecraft must reach about thirty thousand miles per hour, about eight times the speed of sound, while several rockets are controlled precisely. Finding the path, running and controlling the instruments and staying in contact with earth every moment all depend entirely on information and communication technology.

2. Satellites

A geostationary satellite circles about 36,000 km above the earth at exactly the speed the earth turns, so it seems fixed at one spot in the sky. This is the first requirement for telecommunication.

Change the satellite's speed and see when Dhaka's dish can keep hold of it. What happens when it matches the earth's turn exactly?

Satellites do many jobs: GPS (Global Positioning System) in smartphones, TV broadcasting, calls to distant countries, exact cyclone pictures from weather satellites, space research, and pictures of planets and stars from the Hubble Telescope. Match each use to its name.

Some problems of space exploration are man-made. Abandoned and useless spacecraft and their fragments orbit the earth at unimaginable speed, and the risk of a collision is real. Many countries also use satellites to gather secret military information.

3. Bangladesh Satellite-1

Bangladesh's first satellite, Bangladesh Satellite-1, was launched on 12 May 2018. Among countries that have launched a satellite of their own, Bangladesh is the 57th.

It has three aims: telecommunication in remote areas, uninterrupted broadcasting, and keeping communication running in a disaster even when fibre optic networks or transmission towers are damaged.

It is controlled from the Joydebpur (main) station in Gazipur and the Betbunia (backup) station in Rangamati. Renting out transponders saves and earns foreign currency. Flip the cards and test yourself.

4. ICT dependent production

Production is the way of making or supplying the essential goods and services that users use.

To keep products varied and of good quality, planning, transport, marketing, design and development all rely on ICT. Computer-controlled production runs without a hand touching it, so less time and raw material are wasted.

CAD (Computer Aided Design) makes exact designs. Complex dies can be cut precisely by computer-controlled machines. In chemical and drug factories the amount of raw material, the pressure and the heat can be controlled. And a fully automatic factory can run 24 hours.

Farming is no different. Advanced technology is used to develop and monitor crops, fisheries, livestock, forests and soil. Gene technology brings new food crops that suit the weather and environment, and government and private websites offer farm information.

5. Defence and ICT

A defence system secures the country's sovereignty and the safety of its people, and that includes preventing terrorism and cyber crime. Defence and ICT complement each other.

Bombs once had no intelligence of their own. Thanks to ICT, a smart bomb now obeys instructions and hits a chosen place. Recently the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or drone, has been changing the shape of war.

The book lists seven notable effects of ICT on the defence industry. Read them in three groups.

1 and 2. Training soldiers by simulation and virtual reality, which is safe, economical and can run 24 hours. And network-based warfare, where a commander watches the battle from the office and acts at once.

3 and 4. Satellite links to broadcast, watch and command a battlefield from afar. And electronic jamming, which disables the enemy command centre's communication.

5, 6 and 7. With information technology a missile hits its target accurately. Drones strike enemy camps secretly. And counter-defence against missile, rocket or drone attacks is built with IT.

The army, navy and air force together make up the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) plays an important role in technology.

6. Check yourself

Start with the first question.

Take the second a little slowly.

For the third, recall the book's wording.

The whole note on eight cards.

Source: Information and Communication Technology, Classes 11-12 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Information and Communication Technology: World and Bangladesh Perspective”, section 1.3.4 to 1.3.6.