Geostationary satellite relay proposal (Clarke)
Propuesta de retransmisión por satélite geoestacionario (Clarke)
- Date
- octubre de 1945 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Arthur C. Clarke
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The 'Extra-Terrestrial Relays' article in Wireless World, in which Clarke calculates that three satellites at 35,786 km, fixed above the equator, could cover the whole planet with radio.
The geostationary orbit already appears in Potočnik (1928) and, more tangentially, in Tsiolkovsky; Clarke's novelty is its use for telecommunications. He never patented the idea.
What it led to
- definition of the geostationary orbit (Clarke belt)
- communications and direct-broadcast television satellites
- international regulation of orbital slots (ITU)