# Sputnik Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sputnik-question/512305 "2009-10-02T01:14:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sputnik-question/512305/1 "2009-10-02T01:14:42Z")
I realize this is about 50 years late but I’ve been busy. When in orbit did Sputnik maintain a permananet ‘orientation’ towards the earth? I just saw an episode of Nova about the early space race and it showed a ‘picture’ of Sputnik in orbit. The 4 antennae were trailing behind like the feathers on an arrow. Not very likely with no atmosphere. That reminded me that every picture I’ve seen of Sputnik (not that there’s been many) show it ike that; antennae trailing behind. I can see where maybe they would have had something on board to keep it oriented, so the radio would point earthwards - but did it? Without active orientation,even if it always pointed the same way _relative to space_ then it would have appeared to _rotate_ to a ground based observer. So what was the deal - was it always pointed ‘fins back’, did it always point ‘one way’, or did it just 'tumble;? Something else? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sputnik-question/512305/2 "2009-10-02T02:22:53Z")
Looking over its description in Wikipedia, I don’t see any mention of maneuvering thrusters or a steering mechanism of any sort. The antennas had an almost spherical radiation pattern, meaning that they transmitted the same amount of energy in every direction. Since it wasn’t a directional antenna, the orientation didn’t matter. Based on the description, I imagine the designers expected it to tumble. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sputnik-question/512305/3 "2009-10-02T12:08:18Z")
[Here’s](http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sputnik_design.html) a good breakdown of the overall design. Note that in the “parts list” 1-12 are internal components so that number 13, the jet nozzle, is part of the nose cone. No thrusters, no gyros, etc. and no passive orientation control is possible for such a small round object. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sputnik-question/512305/4 "2009-10-02T17:08:58Z")
Some passive orientation control is possible: Small satellites sometimes contain a bar magnet to keep them aligned with the Earth’s magnetic field. That still leaves them free to rotate around the axis of the magnet, though, and the magnetic field isn’t always in the same direction relative to the Earth.