Skynet-1A: Military Spacecraft Launched 55 Years Ago Has Been Moved By Persons Unknown...The dead satellite should be in a geostationary arc at a longitude of around 40 East. But it isn't.

IFL Science ^ | November 11, 2024 | James Felton

[SunkenCiv]

• Somebody moved UK's oldest satellite, and no-one knows who or why [11/10/2024]

[DesertRhino]

British made, 1969, “It stopped working due to hardware issues around 18 months after it started operating”.

Made at the Triumph or MG factory I see.

[Cold_Red_Steel]

British made, 1969, “It stopped working due to hardware issues around 18 months after it started operating”.

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Lucas Electric?

[kosciusko51]

Made at the Triumph or MG factory I see.

How did they get it to leak oil?

[Tallguy]

It was supposedly moved 50 years ago.

While I like a good mystery... the satellite died not long after it was launched 55 years ago. I don't think anybody associated with mission control is still alive much less on the payroll. Who would you ask? Records are likely on a tape drive that is not easily accessible if they can be found at all.

[HYPOCRACY]

Was thinking the same thing.

[abb]

[Lockbox]

Hunter sold it with 10% for the big guy…..

[MeanWestTexan]

“How did they get it to leak oil?”

As the owner of a number of antique British cars, this is a bit of a myth. It was extremely common in English cars to have an active rustproofing system that used a continuous stream of oil to lubricate and protect the undercarriage.

If the car sat around a lot, this would then drip. If driven frequently, it was fine.

Americans tended to use British cars as weekend toys, so they “leaked” more.

[kosciusko51]

Well, my Spitfire was a daily driver, and it leaked a bit...

[MeanWestTexan]

All cars of that era leak a bit.

I have a 1955 Porsche 550, very German, that leaks a lot.

[kosciusko51]

Ooh, nice car...

[ifinnegan]

Theoretically there are records.

[verum ago]

While I like a good mystery... the satellite died not long after it was launched 55 years ago. I don't think anybody associated with mission control is still alive much less on the payroll. Who would you ask? Records are likely on a tape drive that is not easily accessible if they can be found at all.

Reading more on this, it turns out Skynet 1-A's payload comms amplifiers died 18 months into the mission, but not the satellite bus itself or its built-in communications. So it was a mobile, controllable satellite that could be moved around at will for any number of reasons (practice? experiments? simple orbital science data-gathering?) without worry about compromising its mission, since that had died with the main amplifiers. I'm guessing no one remembers why it was moved because no one simply cared that much anymore.

Well, from the above plot, we know it had been moved by about 1978/1979 at the latest.

As for the "Why?" of it, yeah, probably lost to time but overwhelmingly likely it was for fairly mundane reasons, given the thing couldn't carry out its intended operations. It was the satellite equivalent of a busted cell phone without service that won't charge anymore that someone gave to a kid to screw around with until the battery finishes dying.

Some solid reading here: The Curious Case of Skynet 1A

[SuperLuminal]

Chicoms used it for target practice using rubber bullets?
Probably a part of the Apophis-event preparation...

[doorgunner69]

Has to be.

Joe Lucas says: “Don’t go out at night”

[doorgunner69]

Had a Norton Commando bike from around then, and the leaky POS still used leather seals in places,

[Paladin2]

Thanks, I wuz too lazy to get any appropriate image[s].

[Paladin2]

“the leaky POS still used leather seals in places”

I think I have an old Coleman device or two with somewhat problematic pressure pumps....

YMMV...

[Paladin2]

THANKS TO YOU TOO....