Black spots on UV mapped objects First off I am very new to 3D modeling. So please forgive any glaring mistakes. 

I am trying to create a scene that simulates satellite imagery using Blender render. When I render any thing but the simplest mesh object like a cube I get black chunks all over the object. However if I move the camera close to the object those spots disappear. The only difference between the cameras is location and focal length. What am I doing wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Here is my .blend file if it will help. Example

(150km) Camera Render of a UV Sphere


(50m) Camera Render of a UV Sphere
Adding the answer for completeness! 

From the above comments, I compared the "Sat" camera object with a "good camera". The focal length of sat was set at 13 meters vs 3.8mm in the default camera. I think the largest focal length lens in real life is way smaller, so maybe that's why it got all screwy. Anyway, if you change the focal lens size to 3.8mm or some other realistic size, you should be good! You will also need to move the camera closer to the object.