How do computers and other means of technology help astronauts in space.?
471666
First and foremost, even in the earliest spacecraft from the 1960's, navigation is computer-controlled.  It would be immensely difficult, if not impossible, to maneuver a spacecraft for flight and reentry without computers.  Such precise control is needed to ensure the crew doesn't go off course or speed, lest they strand themselves or burn up in the atmosphere.\n\nAfter that, all of the life support systems are computer-controlled.  Computers ensure that the compartments have enough oxygen and safe levels of toxic gases (like CO2).\n\nAside from the computers, you also have the fact that all of the devices they use for experiments, the tools for working/construction, even the systems for waste removal are especially designed for space travel.  100% of the spacecraft is affected by modern technology.
959173
Satellite technology has provided society with the following advantages:\n\n* World wide communication (TV, radio, amatuer radio, Internet, for example) enabling societies to better know one another.\n\n* Weather forecasting (for example, the NOAA weather satellites covering the USA), which saves many lives each year by warning people of major storms.\n\n* Spy satellites enable countries to know what their potential or real enemies are doing militarily. This could avert some war as in the Cuban missle crisis.\n\n* NASA satellites like the manned International Space Station enable various countries to work together on peaceful space projects, provide beautiful photos of earth, conduct science experiments without the influence of gravity, and discover the effects of weighlessness on humans in space (for missions to the moon and other planets).\n\n* NASA satellites like the Hubble Space Telescope, Swift, Chandra and SOHO missions  have enabled astronomers to discover new information about our solar system, the Milky Way, and other cosmological entities.\n\n* many others...\n\nHope this helps!
1178549
Well, the second half of your question is easier to answer -- these problems haven't been solved yet, and they are of great concern to the folks at NASA and the ESA (yes, I know there are other nations and organizations working on space travel, but most of them are still working on getting into orbit for more than a few hours)  If you're talking about simply travelling to the moon or Mars and setting up a colony (one-way trip, in other words), then the G-forces you're worried about are only really experienced during launch, and to a lesser extent during the burn to slow down for re-entry.  Really, the problems that keep mission control specialists up at night are bone density loss from lack of resistance in microgravity (the latest data show that each month spent in near zero-G lowers bone density by 10%, meaning you'll be quasi-osteoporotic by the time you get to Mars and back), constant radiation exposure from the sun and cosmic radiation (not to mention if you get caught in a solar flare), and the usual food, water and air issues that you get on any extended voyage.  Oh yeah, and vitamins tend to break down faster in an oxygenated, low-gravity environment, so any supplements brought along to fight bone loss as well as many medications to treat illness along the way simply won't work after a couple of weeks.  Big issues, no clear answers just yet.
775439
Satellites are generally boosted into orbit using rockets (although several have been deployed from the payload bay of the space shuttle).  Satellites have any number of functions.  Some relay telephone and data traffic from one place on earth to another.  Others do the same for TV signals.  Others (working together) form the backbone of the Global Positioning Satellite system (GPS).  Still others take pictures of the earth for various purposes.\n\nHope that helps.
1109029
sending a probe to mars\n\nadvanced techniques in heart surgery
650465
Technological advances.\n\nMany of the miniaturized components that we take for granted when we listen to our IPods or film someone with our less than one pound video camera are a direct result of the space program as they need to make components as small and light as possible in order to get the items into orbit.\n\nSome of the compression algorithms that we all use to send large files through the Internet are a result of NASA having to create them to receive data from the damaged Galileo mission to Jupiter.\n\nAre you aware of global warming and the hole in the ozone layer? NASA...\n\nDo you like the fact that weather reports show satellite images of storms headed for you that are currently hundreds of miles away in the middle of the ocean?  NASA...\n\nAre you impressed by cochlear implants that allow deaf people to hear for the first time?  NASA...\n\nEver thrown a Nerf Glider?  NASA...\n\nAs you can see, NASA has done a TON of positive things for Americans.  This just scratches the surface.
1131954
Call the satelite provider and get their tech support.
274840
just push ur computer untill it touches the earth.
777406
the satellites help make tv and cell phones and other electronics work
912824
Normally the systolic pressure in the legs is upto 20 mmHg higher than in the arms, but the diastolic pressures are virtually identical. \n\n\nTo be able to explore and work in space, humans have to take their environment with them because there is no atmosphere to supply the pressure and oxygen necessary to support life. Without sufficient atmospheric pressure, body fluids will start to heat up and boil. Without oxygen, we would be unable to breathe. \nThe parts of a spacesuit\n\nSpacesuits serve many functions. Today's spacesuits are pressurized, have an oxygen supply, protect the astronaut from micrometeoroid bombardment while spacewalking, and insulate the astronaut from the severe temperature changes experienced in space. The Space Shuttle astronauts have more than one "outfit" for space travel. What they wear while on a mission is determined by the job they are doing. During the launch and re-entry, the astronauts wear a partially pressurized suit and a parachute pack. The suit has a helmet, gloves, and boots which all serve as protection for the astronaut. Within the suit are bladders that automatically fill with air at reduced cabin pressures. At low pressure, the blood will pool in the lower body causing the astronaut to black out. The bladders maintain the pressure on the lower body to prevent this from happening. While working in the Shuttle during orbit, astronauts work in comfortable clothes such as knit shirts, pants, or flight suits. In addition, prior to each mission, flight crews are outfitted with lined jackets, sleep shorts, slippers, and underwear. \nWhile working outside of the Shuttle during a mission, astronauts wear an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU). This suit has interchangeable parts so it can be assembled to fit different astronauts. This makes the suit more cost effective since it can be reused. The EMU has a liquid cooling garment, which is a one piece suit made of spandex, and keeps the astronaut cool while in the suit. The unit also contains headphones and microphones, a drink bag which carries water, a life support system containing oxygen, and a urine collection device. Gloves are included with the unit along with a helmet and a visor. All of this is necessary to protect the astronaut from micrometeoroids, solar radiation, infrared radiation, temperature changes, pressure changes, and oxygen deprivation.
718030
Paraphrased from a research paper I wrote on this topic:\nNo.  They have given us many benefits and new technology, including: Teflon, many medical advances (pacemakers, etc.), remote control toys, microelectronics, infrared cameras, ATMs, satellite TV, and much more.  If for nothing else, space exploration will provide us a competitive edge in the world market, by developing new technologies, and possibly answers to the deepest questions of mankind.
138361
Hmm...the Hubble has surely helped with that, for one. The observories here on Earth are incredibly sophisticated, with high-powered lenses. When a probe drifts into space, I suupose it can still take distant pictures if it has battery power left.
1100934
Computers are useful to almost everything...
377781
It depends on what you are trying to do.\n\nIf you are trying to find intersellar radio signals in the nighttime sky (SETI@Home), computers are much more efficient. If you are trying to navigate a vehicle across rocky terrain (DARPA Grand Challenge) apparently humans still beat computers at that pretty handily.\n\nThat doesn't mean that computers won't one day be better at off-road navigation than people, but such is not the case at today's state of the art.
531066
The main point to the Mercury program was to establish that humans could survive in space with appropriate support equipment, and to see what worked well and did not.  Its main value was to provide the data that led to the building of the Gemini and then the Apollo programs.\n\nThe data included not only seeing how liftoff, landing and zero G worked with people, but seeing how the booster systems worked, and learning what could be improved.\n\nSpinoffs of the Mercury program, by the way, include silicon chip technology...  which means the computer you're internetting on is a lineal descendant of work done for the Man in Space program.
633653
People with computer knowledge
393081
Computers support the work of astronomers in two major ways.\n\nFirst, they help acquire, store, and analyze the massive amounts of data that astronomical research generates.  Astronomers are currently undertaking a venture called the “virtual observatory,” an international effort at standardizing and allowing access to the data collected by observatories around the world and in space.  Without computers, we’d still be trying to use photographic plates and low-resolution analog detectors to figure out the cosmos;instead, we have the Hubble Space Telescope!\n\nThe second major influence is the advent of “computational astrophysics” over the last several decades, during which time we have refined the ability to simulate the laws of physics on our computers.  We can use comptuers to re-create environments we can’t visit and periods of time that are too long for us to experience.  Thus, we can use computers to simulate everything from Earth’s magnetic field to galactic collisions, from stellar birth to the bending of light around black holes.  Then we can compare those simulations to what we see around us (sifting through the aforementioned massive quantities of data).\n\nI can’t help but note one other way in which computers aid astronomers…  Computers allow us to visualize the complex data returned from both telescopes and computer code.  So we can employ not just purely numerical tools to study the data, but also begin to explore the information with, as it were, the right side of our brains.  My title, you see, is “science visualizer.”  :)\n\n(Below, I link to course notes for a class I co-taught about “Computers, Data Exploration & Science in the 21st Century.”)\n\n\nRyan Wyatt\nRose Center for Earth & Space\nNew York, New York