visionary

Just one sentence from Sir Arthur C. Clark's 1945 (!) article in "Wireless World" entitled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays" that proposed a global radio network using four rocket-lofted solar-powered relay satellites in geosynchronous orbits 42,000 km above the earth:

However great the initial expense, it would only be a fraction of that required for the world networks replaced, and the running costs would be incomparably less.