2007-03-17 06:15:47 · 5 answers · asked by rebekkah hot as the sun 7 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Clarke was a fair celestial mechanic, as long as he stuck with the basics and didn't try anything too complicated. I don't know that he impacted modern science all that much, except insofar as his fiction motivated more people to become astrophysicists. Geosynchronous orbits are sometimes called Clarke orbits, in his honor because he was one of the first people to point out their usefulness in positioning communication satellites.
2007-03-17 06:24:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Okay, to clarify, he had the IDEA that one day radio relays dvices could be put up into space around the earth for communications purposes. Then, he figured it would be a plus if they were "fixed" relative to a position on the ground--or geo-synchronous. He then went on to do the math and come up with the altitude and orbital velocity needed for an object to achieve a geo-synchronous orbit. He did the math in the mid 1940s. The orbital track used by satellites such as this is called the Clarke Belt. Plus, he is one of the first "modern" era sci-fi writers to write stories which contain technology in them that aren't completely and totally far fetched or implausible....such as the transporter on Star Trek. (Until we get computer about a bazillion times more powerful than the ones we got now, and somehow overcome Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, we're never going to be able to transport anyone from here to there.)
But, anyway, Clarke has tech in his stories that is based upon known fact used to make realistic predictions. About the only major prediction he got wrong was the apathy level of the human race in general. We easily could have had commercial passenger carriers offering flights to earth orbit in 2001, but after getting to the Moon in the Apollo program interest in space tech and exploration has sadly become almost non-existent.
2007-03-18 04:36:08 · answer #2 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Authors such as Clarke,Asimov,and Bradbury have had a great impact on science.Between calculators,,computers and robots.They seemed to have foreseen the future.
2007-03-24 06:33:59 · answer #3 · answered by tim butler 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Satelite commuitions
2007-03-17 14:41:34 · answer #4 · answered by chris s 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is responsible for the concept of the communication satellite.
2007-03-17 13:25:31 · answer #5 · answered by Phaedrus 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋