Proto – G.P.S (Sep, 1956)
Skyful of Moons: To aid navigation by ships and planes, a Chrysler Corporation missile engineer, L. Lawrence Jr., has worked out a plan to launch three satellites – Astro 1, 2, 3 – to circle the earth at 600-mile altitude in 105 minutes, in polar orbits crossing the equator at spaced intervals around the world. The satellites would constantly emit radio signals, enabling a navigator to get his bearings from the nearest one, with the help of an almanac giving each satellite’s position at any time. To power a satellite’s radio, an atomic battery would convert heat from radiactive strontium into electricity, by means of a thermopile.






