Clarke orbit
E469541
A Clarke orbit is a geostationary orbit directly above Earth's equator where a satellite appears fixed over one point on the surface, enabling continuous communication coverage.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Clarke orbit canonical | 1 |
| Geostationary orbit | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4805669 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Clarke orbit Context triple: [Extra-Terrestrial Relays, hasNotableConcept, Clarke orbit]
-
A.
Lissajous orbit
A Lissajous orbit is a stable, looping three-dimensional trajectory around a Lagrange point, commonly used by space observatories to maintain a relatively constant position with respect to Earth and the Sun.
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B.
Sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit is a near-polar, low Earth orbit in which a satellite passes over any given point of the planet’s surface at the same local solar time, providing consistent lighting conditions for imaging and observation.
-
C.
Orbit
Orbit is a publishing imprint best known for releasing science fiction and fantasy books.
-
D.
Orbit
Orbit is the fuzzy green alien mascot of the Houston Astros, known for his playful antics and fan-friendly entertainment at the team’s baseball games.
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E.
Earth-trailing orbit (STEREO-B)
Earth-trailing orbit (STEREO-B) is the heliocentric path followed by NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft as it slowly lags behind Earth to provide a unique vantage point for stereoscopic observations of the Sun.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Clarke orbit Target entity description: A Clarke orbit is a geostationary orbit directly above Earth's equator where a satellite appears fixed over one point on the surface, enabling continuous communication coverage.
-
A.
Lissajous orbit
A Lissajous orbit is a stable, looping three-dimensional trajectory around a Lagrange point, commonly used by space observatories to maintain a relatively constant position with respect to Earth and the Sun.
-
B.
Sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit is a near-polar, low Earth orbit in which a satellite passes over any given point of the planet’s surface at the same local solar time, providing consistent lighting conditions for imaging and observation.
-
C.
Orbit
Orbit is a publishing imprint best known for releasing science fiction and fantasy books.
-
D.
Orbit
Orbit is the fuzzy green alien mascot of the Houston Astros, known for his playful antics and fan-friendly entertainment at the team’s baseball games.
-
E.
Earth-trailing orbit (STEREO-B)
Earth-trailing orbit (STEREO-B) is the heliocentric path followed by NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft as it slowly lags behind Earth to provide a unique vantage point for stereoscopic observations of the Sun.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Earth orbit
ⓘ
circular orbit ⓘ equatorial orbit ⓘ geostationary orbit ⓘ |
| advantage |
continuous line-of-sight to fixed ground stations
ⓘ
large coverage area per satellite ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
GEO
ⓘ
geostationary orbit ⓘ |
| altitude |
about 22,236 miles above Earth's equator
ⓘ
about 35,786 kilometers above Earth's equator ⓘ |
| appearsFixedRelativeTo | a point on Earth's surface ⓘ |
| belongsTo | Earth-centered inertial reference frame ⓘ |
| communicationLatency | about 240 to 280 milliseconds round-trip ⓘ |
| conceptProposedBy | Arthur C. Clarke ⓘ |
| conceptPublicationYear | 1945 ⓘ |
| conceptPublishedIn | Wireless World ⓘ |
| disadvantage |
higher latency than low Earth orbit
ⓘ
higher launch energy requirement than low Earth orbit ⓘ |
| eccentricity | 0 ⓘ |
| enables |
continuous coverage of a specific region on Earth
ⓘ
fixed ground antennas to point at a single position in the sky ⓘ |
| hasProperty |
constant altitude over equator
ⓘ
constant longitude over Earth ⓘ |
| inclination | 0 degrees ⓘ |
| liesAbove |
Earth's equator
ⓘ
linked to:
Equator
|
| namedAfter | Arthur C. Clarke ⓘ |
| orbitalPeriod |
about 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds
ⓘ
one sidereal day ⓘ |
| orbitalRadiusFromEarthCenter | about 42,164 kilometers ⓘ |
| orbits | Earth ⓘ |
| regulation |
subject to ITU orbital slot allocation
ⓘ
subject to national licensing of satellites ⓘ |
| requires |
station-keeping maneuvers
ⓘ
thrusters for orbit maintenance ⓘ |
| stability |
perturbed by Earth's oblateness
ⓘ
perturbed by gravitational effects of Sun and Moon ⓘ perturbed by solar radiation pressure ⓘ |
| supports |
direct-to-home television services
ⓘ
global telecommunications infrastructure ⓘ maritime and aeronautical communications ⓘ meteorological imaging ⓘ satellite radio services ⓘ |
| synchronousWith | Earth's rotation ⓘ |
| typicalLongitudeRange | 0 to 360 degrees along equator ⓘ |
| usedFor |
communications satellites
ⓘ
data relay satellites ⓘ television broadcast satellites ⓘ weather satellites ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Clarke orbit Description of subject: A Clarke orbit is a geostationary orbit directly above Earth's equator where a satellite appears fixed over one point on the surface, enabling continuous communication coverage.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
"Extra-Terrestrial Relays" (1945 article on communications satellites)