Seven quick questions on spies, satellites and Australia

Intelligence work has always leaned on the latest technology, and Australia's been part of that story for decades. Here are seven questions to test how much of it you know.

Quick-fire quiz: medium

No searching, no calculators. Give yourself a point for each one, and 6 or more is a strong score.

Seven quick questions on spies, satellites and Australia — Tap to enlarge

The joint Australian and US defence facility at Pine Gap sits near which Northern Territory town?
Australia's foreign intelligence service was set up in 1952. What are its four initials?
Which Soviet diplomat defected in Canberra in April 1954, setting off what's now called the Petrov Affair?
CSIRAC, Australia's first stored-program digital computer, ran its first program in which decade?
Corona, the first US photo-reconnaissance satellite program, got its pictures back to Earth how?
GPS satellites orbit at roughly which altitude: 2,000 km, 20,000 km or 36,000 km?
How many bits make up an IPv4 address?

The answers are below.

ANSWERS

Alice Springs. It's about 18 km south-west of the town.
ASIS. The Australian Secret Intelligence Service.
Vladimir Petrov. His wife, Evdokia, also stayed in Australia.
The 1940s. It ran its first program in 1949 and is now held by Museums Victoria.
In film capsules caught in mid-air by aircraft. The capsules came down under parachutes and planes snagged them.
About 20,000 km. The constellation flies at about 20,200 km.
32. That's four 8-bit numbers, which is why addresses look like 192.0.2.1.

Method: it's general knowledge, but a few of them can be reasoned out. Geostationary orbit is about 36,000 km up and GPS sits a good deal lower, and an IPv4 address is four 8-bit numbers.

Seven quick questions on spies, satellites and Australia

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