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Somebody moved UK's oldest satellite, and no-one knows who or why
BBC ^ | 11/08/2024 | Jonathan Amos

Posted on 11/10/2024 4:04:26 PM PST by BenLurkin

Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.

Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.

When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.

But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.

Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.

Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?

...

"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: 1969; 1970s; 2024; aerospaceengineering; africa; eastafrica; gravitywell; indianocean; satellite; skynet; skynet1a; spying; westafrica
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To: BenLurkin

Moved in the mid 1970s... maybe it was part of a British response to our 1976 bicentennial of our independence.

Maybe it has been mooning us all this time and we just didn’t notice.


21 posted on 11/10/2024 6:35:10 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: BradyLS

Possible that.


22 posted on 11/10/2024 7:03:01 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: MNJohnnie

Skynet just testing for the coming apocalypse.


23 posted on 11/10/2024 7:08:00 PM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: Flatus I. Maximus

Exactly. SkyNet has become sentient.


24 posted on 11/11/2024 1:48:49 AM PST by umbagi (Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it. [Twain])
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To: BenLurkin

I bet Musk did it. It was part of his plot to steal the 2024 election from Harris. He used the UK satellite to delete the millions of votes from voters who cast ballots in 2020 but not 2024.

Hey! I’m just repeating things I’ve seen on social media.

There are many liberals (mainly women) who are convinced Trump stole the election via Elon Musk’s Starlink and Musk and Trump are going to be arrested any day now.


25 posted on 11/11/2024 1:56:47 AM PST by CFW
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To: CFW
I bet Musk did it. It was part of his plot to steal the 2024 election from Harris. He used the UK satellite to delete the millions of votes from voters who cast ballots in 2020 but not 2024.

No, silly. The old UK satellite was moved over the U.S. so Hillary could hide her emails on it while Brian Williams helped Hillary dodge sniper fire in Bosnia to save us from Y2K.

26 posted on 11/11/2024 2:04:15 PM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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27 posted on 11/12/2024 1:48:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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