BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland and LONDON, March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Swiss inverter manufacturer Sputnik Engineering presents its new SolarMax MT2 string inverters at

By Colwell, Rita In the mid-1960s, America was awakened by the beeping of Sputnik, launched by the former Soviet Union. The nation was galvanized into action.

By Charles Kochakian FIFTY years ago last week, America was shaken out of technological complacency by a beeping, 180-pound aluminum ball orbiting overhead. Sputnik was a shock because we had always assumed Russia was nothing but a big, lumbering and all-brawn bear.

By Michael D'Antonio Los Angeles Times Fifty years ago this past Thursday, the United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit. Its success may seem to be a footnote in space history, a second-place finish to the Soviet Union's Sputnik.

50 years ago today The craft's mission Explorer 1 carried instrumentation for the study of cosmic rays, micrometeorites, and for monitoring of the satellite's temperature. The instrumentation package, developed by a team at the University of Iowa under the direction of professor James A.