Geostationary Orbit - Battle for Clark's Belt

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Few aspects of the era of active space exploration have had such a strong impact on the daily life of mankind as the concept of the geostationary orbit, closely related to the invention of the communications satellite. These two factors turned out to be a real technological and scientific breakthrough, which gave a tremendous impetus to the development not only of telecommunication technologies, but of all science in general, which made it possible to bring people's lives to a qualitatively new level.

This made it possible to cover the entire planet with a dense web of stable radio signal and connect even the most remote points of the planet in a way that until recently was the subject of dreams of scientists and a topic for science fiction writers. Today you can freely talk on the phone with the polar explorers of Antarctica or via the Internet instantly contact any computer on the surface of the globe. And all this thanks to geostationary orbit and communications satellites.

Geostationary orbit is a circular orbit that is located exactly above the planet's equator. The geostationary orbit is unique in that the satellites located on it have an angular velocity of rotation around the Earth equal to the speed of rotation of the planet itself around its own axis, which makes it possible for them to constantly “hover” over the same point on the surface. This ensures the stability and exceptional quality of radio signals.

Geostationary orbit, being a kind of geosynchronous orbit and having unique characteristics, is widely used to accommodate telecommunications, television broadcasting, meteorological, scientific research and other satellites. The height of the geostationary orbit is 35,785 kilometers above sea level. It is this precisely calculated height that ensures the synchronism of rotation with the planet. Artificial satellites located on the GEO rotate in the same direction as the earth. This is the only possible combination of parameters that achieves the effect of synchronous motion of the satellite and the planet.

Geostationary orbit also has an alternative name - Clark's Belt, after the name of the person who owns the lion's share of merit in the development of the idea and development of the concept of geostationary and geosynchronous orbits. In 1945, in his publication in the journal Wireless World, he determined the orbital characteristics of this narrow region of near-Earth space and proposed a discussion of the technical parameters required for an Earth-to-Satellite communication system.

With the rapid development of telecommunications and space technologies, the geostationary orbit has become a unique strip of outer space with an irreplaceable and fundamentally limited resource. The extreme congestion of this site with a variety of satellites has become a serious problem. According to experts, in the 21st century, the most severe competitive economic and political confrontation for a place in the geostationary orbit is expected. This problem cannot be solved by international political agreements. There will be a completely stalemate. And in the next two decades, according to competent forecasts, the geostationary orbit as the most advantageous place for satellite systems will completely exhaust its resource.

One of the most likely solutions could be the construction of heavy multi-purpose platform stations in orbit. With modern technologies, one such station can successfully replace dozens of satellites. These platforms will be more cost-effective than satellites and will serve to bring countries closer together.