I am much indebted to my friends the late A. V. Cleaver, of Rolls-Royce, Dr. Ing. Harry O. Ruppe, Professor of Astronautics at the Technical University of Munich’s Lehrstuhl für Raumfahrttechnic, and Dr. Alan Bond, of the Culham Laboratories, for their valuable comments on the Orbital Tower. They are not responsible for my modifications.
Walter L. Morgan (no relation to Vannevar Morgan, as far as I know) and Gary Gordon, of the COMSAT Laboratories, as well as L. Perek, of the United Nations Outer Space Affairs Division, have provided most useful information on the stable regions of the synchronous orbit. They have pointed out that natural forces, particularly sun-moon effects, would cause major oscillations, especially in the north-south directions. Thus “Taprobane” might not be as advantageous as I have suggested; but it would still be better than anywhere else.
The importance of a high-altitude site is also debatable, and I am indebted to Sam Brand, of the U.S. Naval Environmental Prediction Research Facility, Monterey, California, for information on equatorial winds. If it turns out that the tower could be safely taken down to sea level, then the Maldive island of Gan (recently evacuated by the Royal Air Force) may be the twenty-second century’s most valuable piece of real estate.
Finally, it seems a very strange—and even scary—coincidence that, years before I ever thought of the subject of this novel, I myself should have unconsciously gravitated (sic) toward its locale. The house I acquired a decade ago on my favorite Sri Lankan beach (see The Treasure of the Great Reef and The View from Serendip) is at precisely the closest spot on any large body of land to the point of maximum geosynchronous stability.
So, in my retirement I hope to watch the other superannuated relics of the early Space Age, milling around in the orbital Sargasso Sea immediately above my head.
Colombo
1969–1978
About the Author
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was born in Minehead, England, in 1917, and now lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is a graduate, and Fellow, of King’s College, London, and Chancellor of the International Space University and the University of Moratuwa, near the Arthur C. Clarke Centre for Modern Technologies.
Sir Arthur has twice been Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society. While serving as an RAF radar officer in 1945, he published the theory of communications satellites, most of which operate in what is now called the Clarke Orbit. The impact of this invention upon global politics resulted in his nomination for the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.
He has written over seventy books, and shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the movie based on his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey. The recipient of three Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards as well as an International Fantasy Award and a John W. Campbell Award, he was named a Grand Master from the Science Fiction Writers of America. His Mysterious World, Strange Powers, and Mysterious Universe TV series have been shown worldwide. His many honors include several doctorates in science and literature, and a host of prizes and awards including the Vidya Jyothi (“Light of Science”) Award by the President of Sri Lanka in 1986, and the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) from H. M. Queen Elizabeth in 1989. In a global satellite ceremony in 1995 he received NASA’s highest civilian honour, its Distinguished Public Service Medal. And in 1998 he was awarded a Knighthood “for services to literature” in the New Year’s Honours List.
His recreations are SCUBA diving on Indian Ocean wrecks with his company, Underwater Safaris, table tennis (despite Post Polio Syndrome), observing the moon through his fourteen-inch telescope, and playing with his Chihuahua, Pepsi, and his six computers.
Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise
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