SustainabiliTank: The Geostationary Orbit in which Communication Satellites Lie is Called the “Clarke Orbit” in Memory of Arthur C. Clarke the Author of “2001 - A Space Odyssey.” In 1945, He Conceived The Communication Satelites That Were Important To The Military, But Also Gave Us The Internet, And The Waves, That Will Transmit This Posting.

The Geostationary Orbit in which Communication Satellites Lie is Called the “Clarke Orbit” in Memory of Arthur C. Clarke the Author of “2001 - A Space Odyssey.” In 1945, He Conceived The Communication Satelites That Were Important To The Military, But Also Gave Us The Internet, And The Waves, That Will Transmit This Posting.

Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on March 24th, 2008
by Pincas Jawetz (PJ@SustainabiliTank.com)

Global enterprise can be grateful to Arthur C. Clarke
Published: March 22 2008 Letter to the Editor - The Financial Times, From Dr Ian Mitchell.

Sir, In 1992 I attended an technology exhibition in Geneva, where Apollo 9 astronaut Russell “Rusty” Schweickart gave a talk about how technology was causing the planet to “shrink”. As an astronaut who had looked upon the Earth and seen it as a globe, he tried to explain how technology was creating an encapsulated Earth, a global village with a holistic relationship between environment, society and business. That was the term people used back then, though today we’d call it globalisation and we’d be in a position to cite its negative as well as its positive connotations.

I was reminded of this by the death of Sir Arthur C. Clarke this week. Clarke was a bit of a polymath: the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and numerous other books; a first-class honours graduate in mathematics and physics; and perhaps most importantly for all in business, the person who in 1945 first conceived of the communications satellite.

Global enterprise now harvests the fruits of that idea, as internet queries and responses are transmitted across invisible relays that connect our world and make it transparent.

The communications satellite became a reality through synergy with military projects. Any satellite that could be placed in orbit could (by definition) target anywhere on the planet. This, more than a desire for improved global business, was the impetus behind the space race. Clarke’s idea would find itself piggybacking on military technology of enormous destructive power and global reach.

Fortunately “the button” was never pushed; however, because of Clarke’s strategic vision of global communication, each of us today can push a button of our own and send an e-mail or commit a transaction.

Today, the International Astronomical Union recognises the geostationary orbit in which communication satellites lie as the “Clarke Orbit”.

It is a fitting memento to one of the architects of that global village which astronauts see from afar.

Ian Mitchell,

Barnard Castle,

Co Durham DL12 8NS