Posted on 10/15/2025 9:46:26 AM PDT by Red Badger
Skynet-1A was launched in 1969.
Image Credit: NASA, Image ID: KSC-69P-0941 via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain, Modified by IFLScience
A military spacecraft launched 56 years ago was moved from its orbit – and nobody is quite sure who did it, or why.
In 1969 the UK launched Skynet-1A, a military communications satellite placed in orbit above the east coast of Africa in order to relay information to British armed forces. It stopped working due to hardware issues around 18 months after it started operating, and the spacecraft was left to the laws of physics to orbit the Earth – it is now the oldest UK spacecraft still in space.
It's a good idea to check on defunct satellites, to make sure the space debris is not on course to collide with any working satellites or populated areas of the Earth below. In the 1970s, when the satellite was closely tracked, it was in a geostationary arc at a longitude of around 40 East, where it remained when it was decommissioned. Such orbits are subject to gravitational perturbations by the Sun, Earth and Moon.
"If Skynet-1A had failed at its operational location of around 40 East, we would now expect it to be oscillating by +/- 35 degrees either side of 75 East," satellite-system engineer Dr Stuart Eves explains in a blog post for The Global Network on Sustainability in Space.
"Except that it isn’t. According to the UK Registry , Skynet-1A is currently sitting very close to the bottom of the other well at 105 West, oscillating by just a couple of degrees."
The spacecraft is not where it is supposed to be, according to what we know about orbits, now some 36,000 kilometers (22,369 miles) above the Americas. At some point in the intervening years, the satellite has likely been moved – but nobody appears to know when, who, or why. Tracking of the satellite has been patchy, particularly in the mid-1970s when the maneuver appears to have taken place, and any records of what happened appear to have been lost.
The satellite, though the UK's first, was built and partly operated by the USA, with both countries sending commands to it.
"A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'," Rachel Hill, a PhD student from University College London searching the National Archives for clues, told the BBC. "This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?”
While an interesting mystery as to who fired it and why, it could become more pressing in the future. In its current orbit, the satellite could pose problems for other nearby satellites in geostationary orbit. Should it collide with another, the question of who issued the order to fire the satellite's thrusters could decide which country is held liable for the damage.
An earlier version of this article was published in 2024.
I wonder where the XB35 has been flying around. I know that it is usually not out that far…but if it were practicing anti sat operations using defunct sats is the way to test it.
(Cue Terminator theme music.)
Interesting an amateur HAM operator could theoretically communicate with such a satellite. Perfectly legal for HAMs to get telemetry from some types of satellites.
Unlikely given I am sure such commands are encrypted and protected but who knows given how old it is?
My dad led an ultra secret military space project around the time of this Brit / US satellite project. All he would tell me was “Son, you would not believe how important this project is to defense.” He visited the Blue Cube many times. I live close to where the Blue Cube used to be and he visited us often on his business trips.
I met an Air Force officer 15 years ago at a company I worked at and he told me “I know exactly what your dad was managing. That’s all I can tell you.”
It’s becoming self-aware.
We’re doomed unless John Connor saves us.
That's hilarious. The surface area of the earth itself is approximately 197 million square miles. There are as many as 600 geostationary satellites essentially parked around the earth.
Now expand that sphere to a radius of over 26,000 miles -- where those satellites sit. That's roughly 8.5x10^9 or 8,500,000,000 (8.5 billion) square miles.
I don't think 600 of any-sized object is going to have any problems over that much real estate,
Add in variable altitude and is nearly infinite operating space without risk of collision.
I don’t know if this is still happening but retired US Navy communications satellites built in the 70s and 80s were routinely used for pirated communications especially in Brazil, a satellite built even earlier likely could have been hacked by knowledgeable people, here’s an article
https://www.wired.com/2009/04/fleetcom/
In 1969 the UK launched Skynet-1A, a military communications satellite placed in orbit above the east coast of Africa in order to relay information to British armed forces. It stopped working due to hardware issues around 18 months after it started operating...
Sarah Connor.
Or maybe what we know about orbits isnt all there is to know. Probably the more likely option.
Why does the image of Johnny in the movie Airplane pulling out the light cord for the runway come to mind?
it’s not that much real estate, it’s which real estate! Imagine the space over the White House vs say my back yard….. which one would have satellites tasked?
A possibility. The question is, is it a random shift in orbit or is it co-planar with the X-Y-Z axes of the orbit?
There are containers of pressurized propellant that could have leaked over time. A collision with a micro meteorite could do it too.
Either could certainly cause a change in orbit.
One guy in his back yard with a directional antenna “no you can’t” do that they said” “hold my beer” he said....
If the thrusters are still working, why don’t they move it to a safe place?
OTV-8 launched in late August - seems like a reasonable candidate for sneaky stuff happening.
Skynet moved first became sentient in order to acquire more satellites to assimilate into it’s death ray. We need to destroy it before it’s too late.
Only certain spots within that spherical area are suitable for geosynchronous orbit, and even fewer for geostationary orbit.
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