202
4 Navigations from Ground to Space
the north–south direction, Sinan, was invented in ancient China [3]. The Sinan is a
scoop-shaped device made of natural magnetite ore, which is placed on a smooth
plate engraved with directions, and thus the orientation can be identified by the
south-pointing property of magnet. On the basis of understanding the property that
the magnets can attract the iron objects, the magnetic directivity was further known,
and then the Sinan brought up. By repeating studies and experiments, a practical
Compass was finally invented. Apparently, the Sinan is the most original compass
used by people in ancient China. In terms of physical structure, the Compass as one
of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China is composed of the Sinan, compass
plate and magnetic needle. During the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 A.D.),
it was recorded in a work, Records in Pingzhou, written by Yu Zhu who was a
geographer that: “the master driving a boat is familiar with the geography, and is
able to observe the stars at night, the Sun in day, and the Compass in cloudy day”.
It can be shown that the navigation techniques such as the terrain, astronomy and
Compass were widely used by ship sailing near the coast of China at that time. As an
all-weather navigation way, the Compass can make up for the lack of the astronomical
navigation and the terrain navigation, of which the former is required to observe the
Sun, Moon and stars, and the latter is required to observe topographic features on
the ground. The Compass ushered humanity into a new era in the history of sea
voyage. In the fifteenth century, the human history entered the Age of Exploration,
and human activities began to expand from isolated continents to vast ocean voyage,
thus promoting the rapid development of navigational system technology.
With the rapid development of modern ocean voyage and trade, the lighthouses
as navigation marks were built at the prominent places of islands, coasts, headlands,
ports and rivers. The lighthouse is generally composed of base, tower body and
illuminator, with remarkable shapes and color features. To safely guide the voyage
of ships, the terrain navigation is used, in which the ships’ position can be determined
on the sea chart by observing the topographic features and the lighthouses. The sea
charts are necessary basic data for the voyage of modern ships, and mainly include
such elements as the shore shapes, islands, reefs, water depths, navigation marks and
radio navigation stations. With the development of modern navigation technologies,
such as radar transponder, navigation satellite system and Automatic Identification
System (AIS), the function of lighthouse navigation is weakening day by day. For all
that, the lighthouses, carrying thousands of years of history and culture, have become
the cultural landmarks protected by all countries in the world.
As a kind of fixed navigation mark, the lighthouse can directly be seen in daytime,
and its lights with different colors observed at night, so as to guide the ships to
bypass dangerous shoals and reefs, and safely enter the destination ports. In the
coastal countries where the sea-voyage industry had been developed, various types
of traditional and modern lighthouses can be seen everywhere. In ancient times, the
lighthouse’s light was generated by burning charcoal or coal, and later, by burning
olive oil, whale oil and fossil oil, but the distances of their light transmissions were
very limited. At the end of the eighteenth century, there appeared successively the
lighthouses with reflectors and concave lenses. The kerosene lamp flame was placed
at the focal point of a concave lens. The flame reflected on the concave lens to form
4 Navigations from Ground to Space
the north–south direction, Sinan, was invented in ancient China [3]. The Sinan is a
scoop-shaped device made of natural magnetite ore, which is placed on a smooth
plate engraved with directions, and thus the orientation can be identified by the
south-pointing property of magnet. On the basis of understanding the property that
the magnets can attract the iron objects, the magnetic directivity was further known,
and then the Sinan brought up. By repeating studies and experiments, a practical
Compass was finally invented. Apparently, the Sinan is the most original compass
used by people in ancient China. In terms of physical structure, the Compass as one
of the Four Great Inventions of ancient China is composed of the Sinan, compass
plate and magnetic needle. During the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 A.D.),
it was recorded in a work, Records in Pingzhou, written by Yu Zhu who was a
geographer that: “the master driving a boat is familiar with the geography, and is
able to observe the stars at night, the Sun in day, and the Compass in cloudy day”.
It can be shown that the navigation techniques such as the terrain, astronomy and
Compass were widely used by ship sailing near the coast of China at that time. As an
all-weather navigation way, the Compass can make up for the lack of the astronomical
navigation and the terrain navigation, of which the former is required to observe the
Sun, Moon and stars, and the latter is required to observe topographic features on
the ground. The Compass ushered humanity into a new era in the history of sea
voyage. In the fifteenth century, the human history entered the Age of Exploration,
and human activities began to expand from isolated continents to vast ocean voyage,
thus promoting the rapid development of navigational system technology.
With the rapid development of modern ocean voyage and trade, the lighthouses
as navigation marks were built at the prominent places of islands, coasts, headlands,
ports and rivers. The lighthouse is generally composed of base, tower body and
illuminator, with remarkable shapes and color features. To safely guide the voyage
of ships, the terrain navigation is used, in which the ships’ position can be determined
on the sea chart by observing the topographic features and the lighthouses. The sea
charts are necessary basic data for the voyage of modern ships, and mainly include
such elements as the shore shapes, islands, reefs, water depths, navigation marks and
radio navigation stations. With the development of modern navigation technologies,
such as radar transponder, navigation satellite system and Automatic Identification
System (AIS), the function of lighthouse navigation is weakening day by day. For all
that, the lighthouses, carrying thousands of years of history and culture, have become
the cultural landmarks protected by all countries in the world.
As a kind of fixed navigation mark, the lighthouse can directly be seen in daytime,
and its lights with different colors observed at night, so as to guide the ships to
bypass dangerous shoals and reefs, and safely enter the destination ports. In the
coastal countries where the sea-voyage industry had been developed, various types
of traditional and modern lighthouses can be seen everywhere. In ancient times, the
lighthouse’s light was generated by burning charcoal or coal, and later, by burning
olive oil, whale oil and fossil oil, but the distances of their light transmissions were
very limited. At the end of the eighteenth century, there appeared successively the
lighthouses with reflectors and concave lenses. The kerosene lamp flame was placed
at the focal point of a concave lens. The flame reflected on the concave lens to form