Satellites

[FossMaNo1]

So, Robert Jordan's world is extremely detailed and has elements of science & sci-fi in it. During the "Age of Legends" technology and magic were both wielded powerfully and potently (at least from what I can make out in the few passages there are set in that time). Well, in a world that technologically advanced, I have to think there were satellites in orbit. So... what happened to them? Granted, over a 3,000 year span of time, I would say the majority of them would have decayed in their orbit and fallen back to the planet, however a few of them should still be up there, particuarly those in high geosynchronus or greater orbits.

 

I know this has nothing to do with the story... it's just "gee-wizing" on my part. But you got to wonder if RJ ever addressed orbital technology in his world-building. If the era was technologically advanced enough, their satellite system was probably pretty stable and also may have had energy sources that might have lasted to the "present day."

 

Also, we all know that during the Breaking the world's face was transformed. I think it unlikely this could have affected orbital platforms unless the energy unleashed in the Breaking either altered the planet's gravity well (thereby seriously screwing with any orbital bodies out there) or somehow reached out like a solar storm to wreak havoc on the bodies in orbit.

[MasterAblar]

So, Robert Jordan's world is extremely detailed and has elements of science & sci-fi in it. During the "Age of Legends" technology and magic were both wielded powerfully and potently (at least from what I can make out in the few passages there are set in that time). Well, in a world that technologically advanced, I have to think there were satellites in orbit. So... what happened to them? Granted, over a 3,000 year span of time, I would say the majority of them would have decayed in their orbit and fallen back to the planet, however a few of them should still be up there, particuarly those in high geosynchronus or greater orbits.

 

I know this has nothing to do with the story... it's just "gee-wizing" on my part. But you got to wonder if RJ ever addressed orbital technology in his world-building. If the era was technologically advanced enough, their satellite system was probably pretty stable and also may have had energy sources that might have lasted to the "present day."

 

Also, we all know that during the Breaking the world's face was transformed. I think it unlikely this could have affected orbital platforms unless the energy unleashed in the Breaking either altered the planet's gravity well (thereby seriously screwing with any orbital bodies out there) or somehow reached out like a solar storm to wreak havoc on the bodies in orbit.

 

Maybe the DO had all the satellites destroyed somehow. It would definitely hurt the Light side.

[b3arz3rg3r]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were no satellites in the AoL. They aren't really necessary in a culture which depends on the OP instead of electricity. And from the few glimpses we had the AoL doesn't seem to have been that advanced in terms of technology. There is no sign of computers of any sort and little automation evident. The two main reasons for satellites are telecommunication and defense and defense wasn't necessary in the AoL. As for telecommunication it isn't any easier to send signals with the OP through space than on the earth. On the contrary since the distance is further it is actually harder. And let's face it in terms of modern entertainment the AoL seems rather lacking. They were hardly any better than they are in the current days of Randland. I kinda doubt there is television, radio and internet in a world where most of the town population goes out to watch people sing to plants XD.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

satellites go boom crashy crashy.

[FossMaNo1]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were no satellites in the AoL. They aren't really necessary in a culture which depends on the OP instead of electricity. And from the few glimpses we had the AoL doesn't seem to have been that advanced in terms of technology. There is no sign of computers of any sort and little automation evident. The two main reasons for satellites are telecommunication and defense and defense wasn't necessary in the AoL. As for telecommunication it isn't any easier to send signals with the OP through space than on the earth. On the contrary since the distance is further it is actually harder. And let's face it in terms of modern entertainment the AoL seems rather lacking. They were hardly any better than they are in the current days of Randland. I kinda doubt there is television, radio and internet in a world where most of the town population goes out to watch people sing to plants XD.

Actually, this is a really good point. I disagree about the technology not being better than it is in Randland--they had technology in jo-cars (unless these were some kind of mass-produced terangreal vehicles), and I believe there were even references to aircraft. Still, I do really like your point of the lack of need for defense satellites. I'm going to have to think about communications devices & satellites, though... not everyone was Aes Sedai and could presumably talk over distances with the One Power.

[Durinax]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were no satellites in the AoL. They aren't really necessary in a culture which depends on the OP instead of electricity. And from the few glimpses we had the AoL doesn't seem to have been that advanced in terms of technology. There is no sign of computers of any sort and little automation evident. The two main reasons for satellites are telecommunication and defense and defense wasn't necessary in the AoL. As for telecommunication it isn't any easier to send signals with the OP through space than on the earth. On the contrary since the distance is further it is actually harder. And let's face it in terms of modern entertainment the AoL seems rather lacking. They were hardly any better than they are in the current days of Randland. I kinda doubt there is television, radio and internet in a world where most of the town population goes out to watch people sing to plants XD.

Actually, this is a really good point. I disagree about the technology not being better than it is in Randland--they had technology in jo-cars (unless these were some kind of mass-produced terangreal vehicles), and I believe there were even references to aircraft. Still, I do really like your point of the lack of need for defense satellites. I'm going to have to think about communications devices & satellites, though... not everyone was Aes Sedai and could presumably talk over distances with the One Power.

there would have been things like that for the majority of non channellers. They all likely fell back to earth or have been severly damaged and are rotating around the earth

[KaneWalsh]

Interesting. Remember there were ages before the AOL.

I also agree that some people overestimate the tech of AOL. They did have planes/helicopters that alot of people could fit into etc though. It was mainly magic.

[Wolf505]

I seem to remember a line somewhere, I think it was when Elayne and Avi are talking about ter'angreal when they reference something called the "standing weaves" which powered small ter'angreal like call boxes so non-channelers could use them. I think Elayne was talking about a discussion she had with Moghedien. That would also explain how jo-cars and sho-wings were powered and why they all seemed to stop working, seemingly at the same time (from what we can tell in Rand's vision in the glass columns in Rhuidean). That being the case, it seems like things like satellites would be unneeded and would either have crashed to the ground long ago or been removed from orbit.

 

EDIT: Ahh yes, here's a wiki entry that references the "standing weaves."

 

My link

[b3arz3rg3r]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were no satellites in the AoL. They aren't really necessary in a culture which depends on the OP instead of electricity. And from the few glimpses we had the AoL doesn't seem to have been that advanced in terms of technology. There is no sign of computers of any sort and little automation evident. The two main reasons for satellites are telecommunication and defense and defense wasn't necessary in the AoL. As for telecommunication it isn't any easier to send signals with the OP through space than on the earth. On the contrary since the distance is further it is actually harder. And let's face it in terms of modern entertainment the AoL seems rather lacking. They were hardly any better than they are in the current days of Randland. I kinda doubt there is television, radio and internet in a world where most of the town population goes out to watch people sing to plants XD.

Actually, this is a really good point. I disagree about the technology not being better than it is in Randland--they had technology in jo-cars (unless these were some kind of mass-produced terangreal vehicles), and I believe there were even references to aircraft. Still, I do really like your point of the lack of need for defense satellites. I'm going to have to think about communications devices & satellites, though... not everyone was Aes Sedai and could presumably talk over distances with the One Power.

 

I didn't say that technology isn't better than it is in Randland, I was talking about how in terms of modern entertainment the AoL wasn't much if any better than the current Randland.

[Ferdawoon]

Well, satelites are not neccesarily needed for a decently advanced society, especially not one where the One Power exist.

 

You have callbox ter'angreal, along with the standing weave towers to power ter'angreal for non-channelers.

We still have antennas in our world even thought we have satelites. Big towers that send out TV, radio and telecommunication signals.

We also don't know how common these callbox ter'angreal were. If they were like cellphones today where in many countries there are more active cellphones than there are people living there, or if they were less common but there were "public callboxes" like we had phonebooths (and still have).

[FossMaNo1]

Okay, so after reading the wiki entry about ancient Aes Sedai in the AoL, I can buy that perhaps "technology" was surpased my advanced usage of the One Power through standing weaves. Cool. In a magically rich society, I can easily see how "tech" such as satellites and antennae weren't needed. I'm statisfied now.

[Alternate34]

Isn't one of the previous ages our time period? I seem to remember Mosc and Merc and their ship to the stars or something being Moscow (Mosc) and America (Merc). Now the satellites from that period may have either decayed in orbit enough to crash or some super battle occurred where the satellites were all destroyed.

[WhiskyJack]

Randland probably is more technologically advance then what they had in AoL. It was a society based on OP and ruled by Aes Sedai.

 

tMBoF basically deals with same phenomenon where magic stunts technological growth.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Isn't one of the previous ages our time period? I seem to remember Mosc and Merc and their ship to the stars or something being Moscow (Mosc) and America (Merc). Now the satellites from that period may have either decayed in orbit enough to crash or some super battle occurred where the satellites were all destroyed.

 

ya. gravity always wins.

[jemron]

Two things: Stasis boxes?? Also, remember when Loial, Hurin, and Rand go to the "mirror world" in TGH and they find that Artur Hawkwing's memorial Hawk statue has been replaced by a Trolloc memorial with a raven? In that scene, Rand sees some strange black streaks across the sky. I've always wondered what that was... Not satellites, but like, a jet-engine sky-streak made of black smoke? I wonder if that was just a "hey, look at that weird thing" or if it will have any sort of significance.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

i thought they were either planes or the power equivalents.

[DigitalSoul]

Two things: Stasis boxes?? Also, remember when Loial, Hurin, and Rand go to the "mirror world" in TGH and they find that Artur Hawkwing's memorial Hawk statue has been replaced by a Trolloc memorial with a raven? In that scene, Rand sees some strange black streaks across the sky. I've always wondered what that was... Not satellites, but like, a jet-engine sky-streak made of black smoke? I wonder if that was just a "hey, look at that weird thing" or if it will have any sort of significance.

 

Yeah I wondered that too. Was alot of cool things happening in TEOTW. Has those black streaks across the sky been discussed at DM?

[icspots]

Randland probably is more technologically advance then what they had in AoL. It was a society based on OP and ruled by Aes Sedai.

 

tMBoF basically deals with same phenomenon where magic stunts technological growth.

 

The Aes Sedai in the AoL didn't rule the world.

[Erunion]

Change the orbit, gravity or just straight up shake the Earth and all of those satellites will come crashing down. Gravity is a treacherous ally at best, and satellites have to be very precisely placed. Likely during the breaking or some other cataclysmic event somebody screwed with gravity (or even a tiny shift in the planetary orbit) and the satellites started dropping. Could have been during the breaking, or if the AOL was satelliteless, during some other age (to get rid of 'Mosk' and 'Merc's' satellites).

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

skylab, anyone? doesn't take a breaking for an orbit to decay.

[sandoz12]

I remember Alviarin thinking how she wishes they had lifts (which Messana) had told her about. So I assumed that while they used the OP a lot in the AOL they also had electricity and all the trappings that go with it. In the scene Alviarin thinks how she can much easier imagine lifts rather than planes.

[FossMaNo1]

skylab, anyone? doesn't take a breaking for an orbit to decay.

True... SkyLab was victim of atmospheric drag... was positioned way too close to the Earth in too low of an orbit.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

from the fcc.gov's explanation about sats to children:

 

"In the end, all human-made satellites will fall back to Earth, since objects eventually lose velocity and are overcome by the Earth’s gravity. It may take a very long time for this to happen, however, because satellites are so high in space. Satellites near the Earth in low-Earth orbit may take 10, 20, or 100 years to fall back to Earth. Satellites higher up in highly-elliptical or geostationary orbits may take hundreds, thousands, or even million of years to fall back to Earth. Objects falling back to Earth will burn up in the atmosphere due to the friction caused by the Earth’s atmosphere."

 

gravity always wins.

[WhiskyJack]

Randland probably is more technologically advance then what they had in AoL. It was a society based on OP and ruled by Aes Sedai.

 

tMBoF basically deals with same phenomenon where magic stunts technological growth.

 

The Aes Sedai in the AoL didn't rule the world.

 

 

They didn't? So what was the job of Hall of Servants? Is there any mention of other form of government especially since Hall of servant clearly was the only place where war policies were made. Obviously by rule, I meant that these people ran the government.

[WhiskyJack]

I remember Alviarin thinking how she wishes they had lifts (which Messana) had told her about. So I assumed that while they used the OP a lot in the AOL they also had electricity and all the trappings that go with it. In the scene Alviarin thinks how she can much easier imagine lifts rather than planes.

 

Our modern elevators run on electricity. Elevators per se don't need electricity to run. If you can have flying machines based on OP, you can have elevators based on OP.