Electro-ramblings

Arthur C Clarke died this morning.

Apart from the science fiction, he should be remembered for the article he wrote describing his idea for a global communication system based on three satellites in fixed positions spaced evenly around the globe.

In this, so one of the editors of Wireless World told me, he described the necessary technology so thoroughly that the article was used years later to defeat an attempt to patent geostationary satellites in the US.

'Alice'

(Pictured: Geostationary communication satellite Galaxy 15 from US firm Orbital. With a launch mass of 1.7tonnes, it is designed to operate for 15 years.)