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Potočnik’s spacecraft in Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. NASA.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Potočnik was the first person to recognise the
importance of geostationary orbit. He proposed
that his space station be placed in geostationary
orbit and several decades later Arthur C. Clarke
popularised the idea in the magazine Wireless
World. Potočnik’s space station was designed to
spin around an axis, with the centrifugal force
generating artificial gravity enabling humans to
spend longer stretches of time in space. Space
architects from around the world have copied
Potočnik’s spinning circular design and it even
appeared just before the moon landing in Stanley
Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was
inspired by a short story by Clarke. Communica-
tions and broadcast satellites typically operate in
geostationary orbit.
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