Editing Geostationary orbit (section)

== History ==

[[File:Syncom 2 side.jpg|thumb|upright|Syncom 2, the first geosynchronous satellite]]

In 1929, [[Herman Potočnik]] described both geosynchronous orbits in general and the special case of the geostationary Earth orbit in particular as useful orbits for [[space station]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Noordung|first=Hermann|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AHerman_Poto%C4%8Dnik_Noordung_-_Das_Problem_der_Befahrung_des_Weltraums.pdf&page=102|title=Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums: Der Raketen-Motor|publisher=Richard Carl Schmidt & Co.|year=1929|location=Berlin|pages=98–100|format=PDF}}</ref> The first appearance of a geostationary [[orbit]] in popular literature was in October 1942, in the first [[Venus Equilateral]] story by [[George O. Smith]],<ref name="VE">"(Korvus's message is sent) to a small, squat building at the outskirts of Northern Landing. It was hurled at the sky. ... It ... arrived at the relay station tired and worn, ... when it reached a space station only five hundred miles above the city of North Landing." {{cite book|last=Smith|first=George O.|author-link=George O. Smith |title=The Complete Venus Equilateral|date=1976|publisher=[[Ballantine Books]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-345-28953-7|pages=3–4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lj8H3R4J5GUC&q=squat}}</ref> but Smith did not go into details. British [[science fiction]] author [[Arthur C. Clarke]] popularised and expanded the concept in a 1945 paper entitled ''Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?'', published in ''[[Wireless World]]'' magazine. Clarke acknowledged the connection in his introduction to ''The Complete Venus Equilateral''.<ref name="VEintro">"It is therefore quite possible that these stories influenced me subconsciously when ... I worked out the principles of synchronous communications satellites ...", {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/arthurcclarkeaut00mcal/page/54 |page=54 |title=Arthur C. Clarke |first=Neil |last=McAleer|year=1992 |isbn=978-0-809-24324-2|publisher=Contemporary Books}}</ref><ref name="clarke"/> The orbit, which Clarke first described as useful for broadcast and relay communications satellites,<ref name="clarke">{{cite web| url=http://clarkeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ClarkeWirelessWorldArticle.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://clarkeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ClarkeWirelessWorldArticle.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |author=Arthur C. Clarke|title= Extraterrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?|publisher=Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education|date=October 1945|access-date=1 January 2021}}</ref> is sometimes called the Clarke orbit.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = [[NASA]] | url = http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf5-1.php | title = Basics of Space Flight Section 1 Part 5, Geostationary Orbits | access-date = August 25, 2019 |editor=Phillips Davis | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121212130943/http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf5-1.php | archive-date = 12 December 2012 }}</ref> Similarly, the collection of artificial satellites in this orbit is known as the Clarke Belt.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://web.mit.edu/m-i-t/science_fiction/jenkins/jenkins_4.html|title=Orbit Wars: Arthur C. Clarke and the Global Communications Satellite|last= Mills|first=Mike|magazine=The Washington Post Magazine |date=August 3, 1997|pages= 12–13 |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref>

In technical terminology the orbit is referred to as either a geostationary or geosynchronous equatorial orbit, with the terms used somewhat interchangeably.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Satellites and satellite remote senssing: Orbits |title=Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences |edition=2 |year=2015 |pages=95–106 |last=Kidder |first=S.Q. |editor-first=Gerald |editor-last=North |editor-first2=John |editor-last2=Pyla |editor-first3=Fuqing |editor-last3=Zhang |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-382225-3.00362-5 |publisher=Elsiver|isbn=9780123822253 }}</ref>

The first geostationary satellite was designed by [[Harold Rosen (electrical engineer)|Harold Rosen]] while he was working at [[Hughes Aircraft]] in 1959. Inspired by [[Sputnik 1]], he wanted to use a geostationary satellite to globalise communications. Telecommunications between the US and Europe was then possible between just 136 people at a time, and reliant on [[high frequency]] radios and an [[Submarine communications cable|undersea cable]].<ref name=dm>{{Cite magazine|first=Jack|last=McClintock|date=November 9, 2003|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2003/nov/communications|title=Communications: Harold Rosen – The Seer of Geostationary Satellites|website=Discover Magazine |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref>

Conventional wisdom at the time was that it would require too much [[rocket]] power to place a satellite in a geostationary orbit and it would not survive long enough to justify the expense,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/harold-rosen-1926-2017-53790|title=Harold Rosen, 1926–2017|publisher=Caltech|last=Perkins|first=Robert|date=January 31, 2017 |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref> so early efforts were put towards constellations of satellites in [[low Earth orbit|low]] or [[Medium Earth Orbit|medium]] Earth orbit.<ref name="lat"/> The first of these were the passive [[Project Echo|Echo balloon satellites]] in 1960, followed by [[Telstar 1]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite book|title=Beyond The Ionosphere: Fifty Years of Satellite Communication|year=1997|chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4217/ch6.htm |author=Daniel R. Glover |editor=Andrew J Butrica|publisher=NASA |chapter=Chapter 6: NASA Experimental Communications Satellites, 1958-1995|bibcode=1997bify.book.....B}}</ref> Although these projects had difficulties with signal strength and tracking, issues that could be solved using geostationary orbits, the concept was seen as impractical, so Hughes often withheld funds and support.<ref name="lat">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-syncom-satellite-20130726-dto-htmlstory.html|title=How a satellite called Syncom changed the world|first=Ralph|last=Vartabedian|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name=dm/>

By 1961, Rosen and his team had produced a cylindrical prototype with a diameter of {{convert|76|cm|in}}, height of {{convert|38|cm|in}}, weighing {{convert|11.3|kg|lb}}, light and small enough to be placed into orbit. It was [[Spin-stabilisation|spin stabilised]] with a dipole antenna producing a pancake shaped beam.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-031A|publisher=NASA|title=Syncom 2|editor=David R. Williams |access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> In August 1961, they were contracted to begin building the real satellite.<ref name=dm/> They lost [[Syncom#Syncom 1|Syncom 1]] to electronics failure, but [[Syncom#Syncom 2|Syncom 2]] was successfully placed into a geosynchronous orbit in 1963. Although its [[inclined orbit]] still required moving antennas, it was able to relay TV transmissions, and allowed for US President [[John F. Kennedy]] in Washington D.C., to phone Nigerian prime minister [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]] aboard the [[USNS Kingsport]] docked in [[Lagos]] on August 23, 1963.<ref name="lat"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/worlds-first-geosynchronous-satellite-launched/|title=World's First Geosynchronous Satellite Launched|publisher=Foxtel|date=June 19, 2016|website=History Channel|access-date=August 25, 2019|archive-date=December 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207144926/https://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/worlds-first-geosynchronous-satellite-launched/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first satellite placed in a geostationary orbit was [[Syncom#Syncom 3|Syncom 3]], which was launched by a [[Delta (rocket family)#Delta D|Delta D rocket]] in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-047A |title=Syncom 3|publisher=NASA |editor=David R. Williams |access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> With its increased bandwidth, this satellite was able to transmit live coverage of the Summer Olympics from Japan to America. Geostationary orbits have been in common use ever since, in particular for satellite television.<ref name="lat"/>

Today there are hundreds of geostationary satellites providing [[remote sensing]] and communications.<ref name=dm/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/29222-geosynchronous-orbit.html|title=What Is a Geosynchronous Orbit?|website=Space.com|first=Elizabeth|last= Howell|date=April 24, 2015 |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref>

Although most populated land locations on the planet now have terrestrial communications facilities ([[microwave]], [[fiber-optic]]), with telephone access covering 96% of the population and internet access 90%,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/2018-PR40.aspx |title=ITU releases 2018 global and regional ICT estimates |publisher=[[International Telecommunication Union]] |access-date=August 25, 2019 |date= December 7, 2018}}</ref> some rural and remote areas in developed countries are still reliant on satellite communications.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] |access-date=August 25, 2019 |title=Australia was promised superfast broadband with the NBN. This is what we got |first=Geoff |last=Thompson |date=April 24, 2019 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-23/what-happened-to-superfast-nbn/11037620}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[CNET]] |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/in-rural-farm-country-forget-broadband-you-might-not-have-internet-at-all/ |title=In farm country, forget broadband. You might not have internet at all. 5G is around the corner, yet pockets of America still can't get basic internet access. |first=Shara |last=Tibken |date=October 22, 2018 |access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref>