ABSTRACT
Eyes in the sky: the role of satellite technology in connecting the global village In 1945, Arthur C. Clarke, a wartime radar operator in the Royal Air Force and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, published his paper ‘Extra-terrestrial Relays’ detailing a world where geo-stationary satellites would function as the primary linkages for a global telecommunications network. Clarke’s theories built on earlier ideas conceived by Herman Potocˇnik, a Slovenian engineer and pioneer of astronautics. Despite the clarity of Clarke’s arguments and utility of his ideas, the Anglo-American alliance did not immediately seek to dominate Earth’s inner space. However, that all changed in the months after Moscow successfully launched an R-7 rocket carrying Sputnik I on 4 October 1957.
