Clarke belt n.

the ring-shaped region around the Earth containing all possible geostationary orbits

[< the name of SF author Arthur C. Clarke, who proposed the idea]

Science

  • 1981 73 Magazine Nov. 15/1 page image

    This belt is known as the Clarke belt, after famed science fiction author Arthur C. Clark suggested the idea of orbiting relay stations back in the forties.

  • 1987 S. Brand Media Lab ii. xii. 246

    He [sc. Arthur C. Clarke] invented communication satellites. Some are calling the geosynchronous orbit where those satellites reside the Clarke Belt.

  • 1997 T3 Feb. 60/3

    The ring of satellites which encircle the Earth about the equator are located on what’s known as the Clarke Belt.

  • 2015 C. Miéville Rope Is World in Three Moments of Explosion page image China Miéville bibliography

    Freedom Tower, the first space elevator humanity ever started, that had descended splendidly and slowly over years, to Isabela Island in the Galápagos, opened. It was redundant, of course. The technology at its center of gravity, its farthest end and first part built, the base station in the Clarke Belt, was antique compared to that at the Earth, the last, when the extruded tower finally reached it. The shaft ascended in skyhook archaeology.

Research requirements

antedating 1984
Research History
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from China Miéville.

Last modified 2021-10-05 11:05:41
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.