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submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Summary

The UK’s oldest satellite, Skynet-1A, launched in 1969, has mysteriously shifted from its original orbit over Africa to a high-risk position over the Americas.

It’s suspected that in the 1970s, Skynet-1A was intentionally moved west, possibly by U.S. controllers, but records confirming who made this decision and why are missing.

Now inactive, the satellite poses collision risks to active satellites, as it occupies a congested orbit at 105 degrees West longitude.

The UK may eventually need to consider relocating Skynet-1A or removing it altogether to mitigate risks from space debris.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 38 points 5 days ago

BECAUSE IT WAS BLOCKING MY FUCKING VIEW!

Christ, I warned them and warned them.

[-] Zier@fedia.io 12 points 5 days ago

And now it's blocking MY view. I'm moving it back! How the hell am I suppose to look at naked men from space with that dinosaur in my way? FFS!

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Naked men from space? So like hot aliens or...?

[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 days ago

Oh I do hope there are tentacles involved!

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

In my case, there are always tentacles involved.

It's you non-cephalopods that have the weird sex.

NSFO porn

And yeah, I do have a big hectocotylus. Thanks for asking.

[-] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Deploy the space Rooba!

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 5 days ago
[-] Deebster@infosec.pub 14 points 5 days ago

We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events.

Or what everyone else calls the Kessler syndrome.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 12 points 5 days ago

I thought we had a good idea what was where in orbit. How is this a sudden surprise? I had first read it thinking that it had drifted recently for some reason, but it's been in that place for 50 years. I get that as more satellites go up things become more risky, but this should have been a known problem a long time ago.

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 5 days ago

wait, 55 years old satellite still has fuel for thrusters?

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 32 points 5 days ago

from the sound of it, no, the article suggests that someone probably commanded them to fire back in the 70s while the thing still worked, and its just unclear when exactly this was and who did it.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

And it took 50 years to notice?

[-] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

No, it would have been detected by various systems pretty much immediately. Those systems are military though, and probably wouldn't tell the general public about the movement of military satellites

It's also conceivable that it was detected in that orbit but not recognised, so it was treated as a mystery object

[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago
[-] AAA@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago

They shouldn't worry so much about why the original satellite is in a new orbit. They should worry about the indistinguishable replica which took its place.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee -2 points 5 days ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37#:~:text=*%20Orbital%20speed:%2017%2C426%20mph%20(28%2C044%20km/h),time:%20270%20days%20(design)%20908%20days%20(demonstrated)

this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
103 points (99.0% liked)

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