## Step 2 - Reading

#### Geostationary satellites

You are going to read a text about the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

- Before reading the text do assignment 1.
- Read the text and do assignment 2 and 3.

#### Assignment 1

Translate the following words into Dutch. Write down in your notebook.

- a proponent
- explorer
- futurist
- moniker
- television series host
- the geostationary orbit
- to acknowledge
- to be aware of
- to elaborate
- with a large readership

####
Assignment 2

- Read the text.
- On your own, think of headings (tussenkopjes) for the numbers 1-5.
- In your group, discuss your headings.

Geostationary satellites Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was born on 16 December 1917 and died on 19 March 2008. He was a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. 1 ... He is perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This film is widely considered to be one of the most influential films of all time. Clarke was a science writer, who was both an avid populariser of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability. On these subjects he wrote over a dozen books and many essays, which appeared in various popular magazines. In 1961 he was awarded the Kalinga Prize, an award which is given by UNESCO for popularizing science. These along with his science fiction writings eventually earned him the moniker "Prophet of the Space Age". His other science fiction writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, which along with a large readership made him one of the towering figures of science fiction. Clarke was a lifelong proponent of space travel. In 1934, while still a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. 2 ... Clarke emigrated from England to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1956, largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving. Clarke augmented his fame later on in the 1980s, from being the host of several television shows such as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. He lived in Sri Lanka until his death. 3 ... Clarke contributed to the popularity of the idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He first described this in a letter to the editor of Wireless World in February 1945 and elaborated on the concept in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, published in Wireless World in October 1945. The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honour. 4 ... According to John R. Pierce, of Bell Labs, who was involved in the Echo satellite and Telstar projects, he gave a talk upon the subject in 1954 (published in 1955), using ideas that were "in the air", but was not aware of Clarke's article at the time. In an interview given shortly before his death, Clarke was asked whether he had ever suspected that one day communications satellites would become so important; he replied: "I'm often asked why I didn't try to patent the idea of communications satellites. My answer is always, 'A patent is really a license to be sued.' " 5 ... Though different from Clarke's idea of telecom relay, the idea of communicating via satellites in geostationary orbit itself had been described earlier. For example, the concept of geostationary satellites was described in Hermann Oberth's 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space), and then the idea of radio communication by means of those satellites in Herman Potočnik's (written under the pseudonym Hermann Noordung) 1928 book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums – der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor). Clarke acknowledged the earlier concept in his book Profiles of the Future. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke