Portal:Technology/Did you know/3

artist's drawing of the ADEOS II satellite

... that the ADEOS II satellite (pictured), which cost 70 billion yen (US$570 million) to develop, failed 10 months into the mission after the solar panel malfunctioned?
... that the British breastwork monitors designed by Sir Edward Reed were the direct ancestors of the pre-dreadnought battleship and the dreadnought?
... that Trawscoed fort was explored using fluxgate gradiometer surveys?
... that three of the four largest power stations in the world are in South America?
... that a Rans S-6 Coyote II, a type of homebuilt aircraft, has flown across the Atlantic Ocean twice?