Geostationary Satellite Communications
Sir Arthur C. Clarke's most famous prediction on the future is hisproposal of geostationary satellite communications published in theWireless World magazine in 1945. Not considered seriously atthe time it became a reality within 20 years with the launching on1965 April 6th ofIntelsat IEarly Bird the first commercial geostationarycommunication satellite.
A satellite in an equatorial circular orbit at a distance ofapproximately 42,164 km from the center of the Earth, i.e.,approximately 35,787 km (22,237 miles) above mean sea level has aperiod equal to the Earth's rotation on its axis (Sidereal Day=23h56m)and would remain geostationary over the same point on the Earth's equator.In 2021 theClarke Orbit had over 500 active satellites.
The first reference to geostationary satellites is Clarke's letter tothe editor titledPeacetime Uses for V2 published in the 1945February issue ofWireless World (page 58).
Arthur Clarkein his Scientific AutobiographyAscent to Orbit published 1984say that he had forgotten about this letter till he was reminded of itin 1968 by the engineering staff of the Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation.
A 150 dpi scanned image of page 58 of an original 1945Wireless World magazine is linked below. See also the copyedited OCRtext in HTML.
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Clarke privately circulated in 1945 May a proposal titledTheSpace-Station: Its Radio Applications in six typed manuscripts.The top copy of that is now in the National Air and Space Museum,Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. It was reprinted inSpaceflight, Vol 10. no 3, March 1968 pp 85-86 and inAscent to Orbit pp 57-58.
InAscent to Orbit Clarke says the paper with original titleThe Future of World Communications was written in late June andsubmitted to the RAF censor on July 7th. It was sent toWirelessWorld on August 13th and accepted on September 1st. The editorhad changed title toExtra-Terrestrial Relays and published itin the 1945 October issue ofWireless World (pages 305-308).
The 150 dpi scanned images of pages 305-308 of an original 1945Wireless World magazine is linked below. Note that thelast two pages reprinted inAscent to Orbit have been reformattedomiting an illustration on page 307 which had no Figure number.See also the copy edited OCRtext in HTML.
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There is a minor reference to Clarke's articletitledExtra-Terrestrial Relays published in the 1945November issue ofWireless World (page 336).
A 150 dpi scanned image of page 58 of an original 1945Wireless World magazine is linked below. See also the copyedited OCRtext in HTML.
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See alsodetails of the Wireless World Magazinesimaged above.