Arthur C. Clark & Olathe, KS

The Geosynchronous Orbit Meets the GPS

Michael Round

June 8, 2009

Cell phones and GPS are so commonplace now, it's hard to remember what things were like before these technological advances. Considering the age of "civilized man", we are still children regarding the transmission of signals. Bell and the telephone, Morse and the Morse Code, the telegraph, Marconi's wireless transmission - these inventions are not that old.

Try, if you can, to go back 1/2 century. You want to talk with someone on the other side of the world. How would you do it?

You couldn't.

The length of the transmission you would send is limited. It would go a certain distance, and then head off into space. Why? The earth is curved - the transmission linear.

What to do about it? There's certainly not a lot to be done with the curvature of the earth. It's pretty-much fixed. However, just verbalizing the existing system, possibilities come to mind: could ground-based communications be sent, maintaining a constant distance from the earth? It would certainly become a crowded digital world!

But what alternative is there?

We must get above the earth!

Imagine a communication-satellite orbiting the earth looking DOWN rather than transmission towers looking ACROSS. But would a satellite work? Of course not - the coverage would be only a fraction of the earth.

However, a SYSTEM of communication satellites orbiting the earth would.

The solution seems so obvious when basic facts are logically organized.

But what about the details? How do we get such satellites into orbit? How do we KEEP them in an orbit, neither succumbing to earth's gravitational pull nor falling off into space? Should the satellites track with the rotation of the earth, or should they remain stationary as the earth rotates?

Look for this in the next issue of "=EQUALS="!

A second thought: the more I think about "satellite coverage", and actually project this coverage to a globe, I recognize a familiar site - my line designs! Can it be a geosynchronous satellite system is, of course not literally but perhaps analogically, my line designs?

A Pretty Good Analogy?

"Line Designs and Geosynchronous Satellite Systems" sounds like an interesting but non-relevant analogy, until you see the cover of Clarke's first collection of short stories:

But What Has This To Do With Olathe?

The GPS is a common feature, and typing in an address allows the user to navigate the highways and byways with ease.

But is that all? Is it always the case we merely want to get from Place A to Place B? Is “efficiency” always the goal? What if we merely want to “scout out new territory” – to “go exploring”?

Terrifying. What happens if we get lost? How do you find your way? No longer.

The GPS has freed us from such terror. Can one get lost? You bet. Can we find our way again? Now, yes!

I dedicate this haiku to Garmin, Incorporated, head-quartered in Olathe, Kansas, is the world-leader in the development of Global Positioning Systems.

The Aesthetics of Lostness

Directional Maze

Digital Eye in the Sky?

A Voice from Above

GARMIN

Olathe Headquarters of the World-Wide Leader of Global Positioning Systems

“To be lost. How frightening. To be safely lost? How wonderful!”

Ray Bradbury

The Aesthetics of Lostness