Over five years, 16 groups conducted observations at 45 globally distributed stations, about 3000-4000 km apart from each other.[4][7][12] 12 mobile tracking stations were used, which observed during favorable weather conditions during a few minutes of twilight each evening.[7][why?][clarification needed] BC4 cameras were used to photograph the satellite.[12] Observations were taken when the satellite was visible simultaneously to multiple stations at the same time.[12] This resulted in the fixing of the precise locations of 38 different points around the world.[4] This could be used to help determine the precise locations of the continents relative to each other, and to help determine the precise shape and size of the earth.

that is amazing! so cool

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

And it sounds like it was usable for 9 years. That's impressive for a very thin balloon surrounded by 50,000mph dust particles

[–] DrownedRats@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

That'd actually very similar to how trig points work! It's a giant orbiting trig point. Someone call the ordnance survey!