Stamp Profile

25th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

New Zealand

Issue Date: 20/07/1994 

The names of Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin have become part of world history, being the first men to walk on the moon. New Zealand Post paid tribute to these astronauts and celebrated the 25th anniversary of their historic moon landing with an hi29/08/06rst hologram stamp depicting an astronaut walking on the moon with the earth and New Zealand in the background.

The stamp was produced in sheetlets of 10 with the selvedge depicting outer space.

The hologram, which was designed by New Zealand Post, was produced by Woodmansterne of England and applied to the printed stamp by Southern Colour Print.

On 21 July 1969 (New Zealand Time) man first set foot on the moon. The American astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, watched by millions of television viewers round the world, stepped off the ladder of the lunar module, Eagle, on to the moon. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," he said.

©Info by New Zealand Post

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EUROPA 91

JERSEY

Issue Date: 24/04/1991

This year the Europa Theme is 'Europe in Space' and our latest set of stamps takes us away from Jersey into spare examining four different satellites and the purposes they serve. These spacecraft have sensors and computers to record, process, store and communicate data for monitoring the Earth's surface, i.e. remote sensing. By being able to observe large areas, an entirely new way of monitoring and analysing is available to scientists and environmental specialists,

Landsat 5 appears on the first of two 20p values. Landsat refers to a series of polar orbiting remote sensing satellites, the first of which was launched in 1972 by the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA). This craft carries instruments, which observe the land and sea. The information sent back to earth is received by large steerable dish antennae and is stored in two ways - as computer tape or as hardcopy (photographs).

All Landsat spacecraft are in near polar orbit i.e. they circumnavigate the globe close to the poles, covering the whole surface in sixteen days, as opposed to those like Meteosat in geostationary orbit which travel above the equator at a speed sychronised with the Earth's rotation so that they always view the same area.

Landsat 5, launched in 1984, carries two sensors: a Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and a Thematic Mapper (TM). The former has four wavebands, the latter seven and records data in the visible, middle infra-red and thermal infrared bands of the light-heat-sound energy spectrum. TM images are made up of some six thousand-scan lines, each composed of several thousand individual pixels (tiny squares). As each pixel represents a thirty metre square patch of ground and a complete scene covers an area 185 x 185 kilometres, there are around thirty-seven million pixels per image. Multiply this by the seven bands sensed simultaneously and you get some idea of the volume of data generated - and all in twenty-five seconds. Sixteen lines are actually scanned at once so that at any one instant a strip of ground one pixel wide east to west and sixteen pixels deep from north to south is being imaged, representing on the ground an area 30 x 480 metres. For the purposes of stamp design, the TM is shown superimposed over Jersey, but not to scale. The Island's Department of Planning and Building Control are currently working on a digital mapping system and this type of data may well be used.

Another more recent orbiting satellite studying the earth resources is SPOT, a mainly French-Swedish-Belgian venture. This has a greater resolution with a detail area as small as ten metres square and it is also able to transmit stereoscopic images from which a three-dimensional picture of the ground can be achieved. SPOT circumnavigates the globe once every twenty-six days.

Our second 2Op value shows a wider field of view and encompasses Jersey, North Western France, Southern England and the Channel. ESA's first earth resources remote sensing satellite known as ERS-1 is due to be launched shortly in a polar orbit, thus giving total global cover. It carries a wide range of sensors such as radar and other microwave sensors for studying the land and the oceans, including measurement of sea surface temperature , wave height and sea levels. Britain has been involved in every aspect of the ERS-1 programme since the late 1970's. The data received will help scientists to improve their understanding of the complex interactions between ocean, polar ice and atmosphere which are the major driving forces responsible for global weather and climate systems.

Launch of ERS-1 by Ariane-4 will took place from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guyana. Technically, radar images are only obtained in black and white (grey scale) form but can be colour coded (density sliced) by computer enhancement which uses colour to characterize areas with similar densities of radar backscatter. The imaging radar will survey a strip of 80 to 100 kilometres wide no matter what the weather or time is and in this stamp Jersey is shown within the grey tone area whilst radar beam focuses, one pixel at a time on the sea off Brittany. The actual pixel size will be thirty metres as for the Landsat Thematic Mapper image on the 2Op issue.

The high degree of accuracy achievable by the latest instruments will be demonstrated by the radar altimeter which can measure the 800 kilometre distance between ERS-1 and the ocean's surface with an estimated accuracy of ten to fifteen centimeters, day and night in any weather conditions.

Moving on to the 26p value , we see Meteosat, the first European meteorological satellite launched in 1977 in a geostationary orbit. From its position it scans almost half the globe every half-hour transmitting data twenty-four hours a day to a ground station in Germany where the picture is enhanced and the outline of countries added. This is then sent back up to the satellite from where it was transmitted free of charge. A time table is available for users to work out if they wish to receive pictures showing reflected light, heat or moisture content. Cloud and temperature information are received direct at Lannion in Brittany and Bracknell in Berkshire, with Jersey Met, receiving it directly by separate landlines from both stations. Unlike Landsat, SPOT and ERS-1, Meteosat images can be received live from the satellite using only a small dish antenna and receiver such as the one at the Teacher's Centre in St. Helier.

Finally on the other 26p stamp , the last view further away from Earth is of Olympus. ESA's high-powered Direct Broadcasting Satellite (DBS), Olympus, and launched in 1989, was built by a consortium of European companies, led by British Aerospace as prime contractor. Olympus carries four experimental communications and broadcast payloads. The Direct Broadcast Payload has two hi29/08/06 and the other for European use, which will allow signals to be received using very small dishes. The Specialised Services Payload has a multi-beam antenna, providing five steerable spot beams and channel switching in the repeater to allow a variety of links to be established; the payload is primarily intended to provide specialised services for business use, e.g. video-conferencing, and for television distribution. The Communications payload operates in the 20/30 GHz band that will in the future be used for communication services - present systems operate at 4/6 GHz or around 12 GHz. This payload is being used for experimental video-conferencing, tele-education, data and video transmissions. Finally the Propagation Payload allows experimenters to study the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on radio waves at 20 and 30 GHz.

A very wide range of experimenters is presently using Olympus. For example, a school in Devon is experimenting to promote tourism by being linked via satellite with schools in Spain. With the imminent arrival of digital audio tape recorders, it should be possible to download books, magazines or newspapers on to tape for reading at home using the normal television set.

We wish to thank Julia McMorrow, BSc, HSc, and Alan Webb, MA, Ceng , MIEE, who assisted in preparing this article for The Jersey Philatelic Bureau, and thanks to the Jersey Philatelic Bureau, for allowing us to reproduce the article.

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Europa 1991

Isle Of Man

Issue Date: - 24/04/1991

With the rapid changes in communications technology appearing all the time, it is little wonder that the theme of space would emerge sooner or later for the Europa issue. Satellite communications have developed enormously in the last decade in particular INTELSAT, a non-profit making organisation which began more than 25 years ago, and whose membership now includes 117 nations and more than 70 countries, territories end dependencies Intelsat provides a 24 hour a day service, permanently manned with instant communication worldwide to meet the needs not only of domestic, but also regional and international communications. It is to Intelsat that the Isle of Man is now linked for ifs vital communications across the world, and from Intelsat that the Island's national broadcasting service, Manx Radio, receives its international news feeds. It is also through Intelsat's business system (IBS) that Manx Telecom has access to a variety of satellites for their communication links in today's business world.

The 17p stamp depicts fishing boats at the entry to Douglas harbour with the lighthouse in the background. A commonplace scene for the locals, brought into the modern world by the Intelsat communications satellite and the ARIANE launch rocket, keeping the Island instantly in touch worldwide

The 26p stamp design shows different satellites used for the purpose of communication in radio broadcasting and weather forecasting, amongst other uses, being beamed down to Ronaldsway (IOM) Airport and to the Manx Radio building in Douglas. The satellite launch shuttle, the ATLAS rocket and a manned space station enables the US and its European partners to use space for peaceful purposes to benefit all mankind.

This year, however, we are not only celebrating the revolutionary techniques in satellite communications, but 1991 also marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Morse whose name is well known throughout the world as the inventor of the electric telegraph - or Morse Code, which he devised arid which is still very much in use today.

(c) Isle of Man Post Office

 

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