Last week on the 18th of December was the 50th anniversary of the world's first communication satellite. Aptly? named SCORE - Signal Communications Orbit Relay Equipment (remember, it was just over an year that the Russians had grabbed the honour of launching the first man-made object into space- Sputnik-1), the launch was timed to allow U.S. President D. Eisenhower to broadcast a Christmas message to the world.

The payload of all these early satellites was not a secret - it was mostly communication equipment. In 1959 the Corona missions were among the first spy satellites whose payload as well as purpose was classified till a just about a decade ago. Today almost forty five names figure in the list of countries with at least one declared payload in space. China has been very active in launching 'remote sensing satellites' almost @ three in a year - but the capabilities of the payload could not be obtained on any web site in english...