Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Space
Gregory Robinson
The feeling of losing something important will make you feel like your stomach is churning, but what if that very important thing was a satellite?
Scientists have been left scratching their heads after a satellite was moved halfway across the world, without anyone knowing how or why.
Skynet-1A is the UK’s oldest satellite. It was launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first landed on the Moon. The satellite was put above Africa’s east coast to relay communications for British forces.
Once the satellite stopped working a few years later, it was expected to be pulled by gravity further east over the Indian Ocean. Instead, it is 22,369 miles above the Americas.
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It is unlikely the satellite simply drifted to where it is today due to orbital mechanics. Instead, it is believed its thrusters were commanded to fire in the mid 1970s to take it west.
But the question remains - who set the satellite on this course and why?
Scientists are now searching for answers after discovering that the spacecraft has moved halfway around the world without explanation.
A number of astronomers have shared possible explanations about what happened and why Skynet-1A is where it is today.
“Whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favors,” space consultant Dr Stuart Eves told the BBC.
"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.
"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it.”
After scouring through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and following conversations with satellite experts worldwide, Dr Eves has been unable to get to the bottom of this unsolved space mystery.
University College London PhD researcher Rachel Hill offered a potential clue: “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'.
"This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?"
Official, albeit incomplete, logs of the satellite’s status suggest its final commanding was in the hands of the Americans when Oakhanger lost sight of it in June 1977.
There are concerns around Skynet-1A’s current position in the event it collides with something, which could generate thousands of pieces of debris.
Still, the Ministry of Defence said Skynet-1A is constantly monitored by the UK’s National Space Operations Centre.
The mystery continues...