Editing Communications satellite (section)

=== Origins ===
In October 1945, [[Arthur C. Clarke]] published an article titled "Extraterrestrial Relays" in the British magazine ''[[Wireless World]]''.<ref name="ww-october1945">{{Cite magazine |last=Clarke |first=Arthur C. |author-link=Arthur C. Clarke |date=October 1945 |title=Extra-terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage? |url=http://clarkeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ClarkeWirelessWorldArticle.pdf |url-status=live |magazine=[[Electronics World|Wireless World]] |publisher=Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education |volume=51 |issue=10 |pages=305–308 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119064052/http://clarkeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ClarkeWirelessWorldArticle.pdf |archive-date=19 November 2023 |access-date=1 January 2021 }}</ref> The article described the fundamentals behind the deployment of [[satellite|artificial satellite]]s in geostationary orbits to relay radio signals. Because of this, Arthur C. Clarke is often quoted as being the [[invention|inventor]] of the concept of the communications satellite, and the term 'Clarke Belt' is employed as a description of the orbit.<ref name="wapo-19970803">{{Cite news |last=Mills |first=Mike |date=3 August 1997 |title=Orbit Wars |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1997/08/03/orbit-wars/d5840c66-d2c4-4682-bd95-5f97d46b8843/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=18 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221123441/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1997/08/03/orbit-wars/d5840c66-d2c4-4682-bd95-5f97d46b8843/ |archive-date=21 February 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Sputnik asm.jpg|Replica of Sputnik 1|thumb]]
The first [[Satellite|artificial Earth satellite]] was [[Sputnik 1]], which was put into orbit by the [[Soviet Union]] on 4 October 1957. It was developed by [[Mikhail Tikhonravov]] and [[Sergey Korolev]], building on work by [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]].<ref name="airandspace-200711">{{Cite magazine |last=Siddiqi |first=Asif |author-link=Asif Azam Siddiqi |date=November 2007 |title=The Man Behind the Curtain |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-man-behind-the-curtain-22131111/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]] |issn=0886-2257 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124103036/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-man-behind-the-curtain-22131111/ |archive-date=24 November 2023 |access-date=1 January 2021 }}</ref> Sputnik 1 was equipped with an on-board [[radio]] [[transmitter]] that worked on two frequencies of 20.005 and 40.002&nbsp;MHz, or 7 and 15 meters wavelength. The satellite was not placed in orbit to send data from one point on Earth to another, but the radio transmitter was meant to study the properties of radio wave distribution throughout the ionosphere.  The launch of Sputnik 1 was a major step in the exploration of space and rocket development, and marks the beginning of the [[Space Age]].<ref name="russianspaceweb-sputnikdesign">{{Cite web |last=Zak |first=Anatoly |year=2017 |title=Design of the first artificial satellite of the Earth |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/sputnik_design.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926121334/https://www.russianspaceweb.com/sputnik_design.html |archive-date=26 September 2023 |access-date=1 January 2021 |website=RussianSpaceWeb.com }}</ref>