Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 13
7. In the near future, the large airliners which will fly great circle routes over oceans
and uninhabited regions of the world will require television and allied services and there
is no known [2] manner in which these can be provided.
8. All these problems can be solved by the use of a chain of space-stations with an
orbital period of 24 hours, which would require them to be at a distance of 42,000 Km
[kilometers] from the centre of the earth. (Fig 1.) There are a number of possible arrangements
for such a chain but that shown is the simplest. The stations would lie in the earth’s
equatorial plane and would thus always remain fixed in the same spots in the sky, from the
point of view of terrestrial observers. Unlike all other heavenly bodies they would never rise
nor set. This would greatly simplify the use of directive receivers installed on the earth.
Figure 1.
C
A
Beam Links
9. The following longitudes are provisionally suggested for the stations to provide
the best service to the inhabited portions of the globe, though all parts of the planet will
be covered.
30 E—Africa and Europe.
150 E—China and Oceana.
90 W—The Americas.
10. Each station would broadcast programmes over about a third of the planet.
B