When people think Apollo era of spaceflight, It’s either a bygone era of relentless exploration, or it was completely fake. But remnants of that golden age still lurk in the cold Black Sea above us. A dead British satellite Launched in 1969, this spacecraft currently poses a threat to modern spaceflight. Skynet-1A drifted more than 22,300 miles from its graveyard location into an area of ​​active satellite traffic. Gravity did not pull the satellite, the ground controller moved it.

Skynet is not an artificial intelligence system in this context Determined to destroy humanity, but a set of communications satellites. Skynet-1A was launched into a geostationary orbit over the east coast of Africa to provide a communications link for the British military to keep in touch with its forces deployed across Asia. The satellite was not used much as it stopped working after a few years.

The British expected gravity to pull Skynet-1A over the Indian Ocean. However, the satellite ended up moving in the opposite direction. over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Latin America. The new location makes orbital collisions much more likely. This didn’t happen by chance. One expert told the BBC: someone moved Skynet-1A there:

It was almost certainly ordered to fire its thrusters to take it westward in the mid-1970s. The question is who is this and with what authority and purpose?

It’s interesting how important information about a once vital national security asset can suddenly evaporate. But fascination aside, you might reasonably ask why this still matters. After all, we are talking about discarded space junk from 50 years ago.

Space consultant Dr. “This is still true because whoever moved Skynet-1A did us very little favor,” says Stuart Eves.

“It’s currently floating back and forth like a marble at the bottom of a bowl in what we call the ‘gravity well’ at 105 degrees West longitude. And unfortunately this regularly brings it close to other satellite traffic.

“Because it’s dead, there’s a risk of it hitting something, and since it’s ‘our’ satellite, we’re still responsible for that,” he explains.

Who carried Skynet-1A? The simple answer is we don’t know. The long answer is that he was probably an American. Although it is called Britain’s oldest satellite, the device was made by American electronics manufacturer Philco. Ford’s division at the time. The satellite was placed into orbit US Air Force Delta rocket. The USAF ensured that Skynet-1A was fully functional before delivering it to the Royal Air Force.

Control of Skynet-1A occasionally reverted to the USAF when the British control center at RAF Oakhanger underwent maintenance. British experts claim that incomplete official records show that Skynet-1A was under USAF control when communications were lost in June 1977. After all, this is a satellite of England. former superpower must ensure that its property does not hit another satellite.

The United States doesn’t need any help filling orbit with space debris. Satellite produced by Boeing exploded Last month we littered the area with at least 20 pieces of significant debris. These objects need to be tracked because they could hit something else in orbit. If the debris hits something else, the collision will create more debris. Rinse and repeat until Earth is completely disconnected from space.

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