The Nebula Awards were established in 1965 by SFWA founder Damon Knight, with the first ceremony in 1966 when Frank Herbert’s Dune won Best Novel. The Nebula trophy, unveiled in 1966, is a block of clear Lucite embedding a spiral galaxy made of glitter and a crystalline landscape. In 1966 fantasy works were officially included…
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WorldSpace, founded in 1990, launched the first satellite radio broadcasts in October 1999 over Africa and the Middle East, with India accounting for 90% of its subscribers before filing for bankruptcy in 2008 and ceasing broadcasts in 2009. XM Satellite Radio launched its first satellite in March 2001 and began broadcasting to U.S. customers on…
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Telstar 1 (NASA) transmitted the first live television signals via satellite in 1962, linking Europe and North America. Syncom 2 became the first geosynchronous satellite in 1963, and Syncom 3 in 1964 broadcast the Tokyo Olympics to the United States. Intelsat I (Early Bird) was launched in 1965 as the world’s first commercial communications satellite…
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The Black Knight legend links Nikola Tesla’s 1899 reports of periodic radio signals from Colorado Springs to the idea of an ancient satellite in Earth orbit. In 1927 Jørgen Hals observed long-delayed echoes, and in 1973 Duncan Lunan claimed a star map pointing to Epsilon Boötes suggesting a 13,000-year-old alien probe, later retracting parts of…
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1957 – The Atoms for Peace agreement between the United States and Iran launches Iran’s civil nuclear program. 1967 – Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) is a 5 MW reactor supplied by the United States, using weapons-grade uranium fuel (93% enriched). 1968–1970 – Iran signs and ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); IAEA safeguards enter force…
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