Communications satellite. 3-dimensional computer graphic of a communications satellite over Europe, looking north. Powered by their outstretched solar panels, satellites like this relay telephone and television signals around the planet. The 3-D per- spective of Europe was created by a cartography program that wraps an accurate geographical map onto a sphere. The photograph" is then taken by a virtual camera positioned at any chosen point over Earth, and shows what the planet would look like from Space on a cloudless day."