preponderant mass and which has a motion primarily and permanently determined by the force of attraction of that other body." The term "body" was also defined as to mean "a body so defined which revolves around the Sun is a planet or planetoid." "Active satellite" means an "earth satellite carrying a station intended to transmit or retransmit radiocommunication signals." "Passive satellite" means an "earth satellite intended to transmit radiocommunication signals by reflection." Orbit by 1971 was defined as: 1. the path, relative to a specified frame of reference, described by the center of mass of a satellite or other object in space, subjected solely to natural forces, mainly the force of gravity. 2. by extension, the path described by the center of mass of an object in space subjected to natural forces and occasional low-energy corrective forces exerted by a propulsive device in order to achieve and maintain a desired path. A geosynchronous satellite is an "earth satellite whose period of revolution is equal to the period of rotation of the Earth about its axis." A geostationary satellite is a "satellite, the circular orbit of which lies in the plane of the Earth's equator and which turns about the polar axis of the Earth in the same direction and with the same period as those of the Earth's rotation. The orbit on which a satellite should be placed to be a geostationary satellite is called the 'geostationary satellite orbit."' 23 UST 1578-1579, TIAS 7435. The foregoing definitions are set out in Annex I of the agreement and constitute revisions of Article 1 of the 1963 Radio Regulations. For a critical appraisal of the validity of these definitions, see James J. Gehrig, "Geostationary Orbit-- Technology and Law," Proceedings of the 19th Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space 267 (1977).
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