Searching for Small Debris in the Geostationary Ring – Discoveries with the Zeiss 1-metre Telescope

Introduction One of the most important and valuable regions in space for telecommunications, Earth observation and space science is the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). The concept of the geostationary orbit was born many years before rockets carried satellites into space. In his book ‘Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums – Der Raketenmotor’ issued in 1929 under the pseudonym Hermann Noordung, Hermann Potocnik (1892–1929) described a space station in the geostationary orbit for meteorological observations. Later, in 1945, Arthur C. Clarke published his famous article on ‘extraterrestrial relays’ in the journal ‘Wireless World’, where he explained the advantages of geostationary satellites for communication. Many years later, Potocnik’s and Clarke’s vision became a reality, and the geostationary ring, which comprises all geostationary orbits suitable for practical use, is now one of the most important and most valuable regions in space.