Scientists are scrambling for answers after the UK’s oldest satellite was found to have moved halfway around the world without explanation.
The Skynet-1A satellite, compared to a “ticking time bomb”, had been launched in 1969 and was stationed over the east coast of Africa for years to facilitate British military communications.
But now, Skynet-1A sits half the world away, some 22,369 miles above the Americas – a position it’s unlikely it could have reached by drifting alone.
It’s thought that it was told to fire its thrusters to shift it west in the 1970s, but any records as to who signed off on the order have long since disappeared.
Skynet-1A sits half the world away, some 22,369 miles above the America
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But, speaking to the BBC, a number of astronomers have offered up explanations as to what happened – and why it is where it is now.
Space consultant Dr Stuart Eves, who has scoured satellite catalogues, the National Archives and more to no avail, told the broadcaster: “Whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours.
“It’s now in what we call a ‘gravity well’ at 105 degrees west… 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,” he warned.
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The satellite was piloted from RAF Oakhanger in rural Hampshire
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Skynet-1A was manufactured in the US by the now-defunct Philco Ford aerospace firm – and was hauled into space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.
Graham Davison who flew the satellite in the early 1970s from its British operations centre at RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire, said: “The Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit.
“They tested all of our software against theirs, before then eventually handing over control to the RAF.
“In essence, there was dual control, but when or why Skynet-1A might have been handed back to the Americans, which seems likely – I’m afraid I can’t remember.”
Scientists are scrambling for answers after Skynet-1A was found to have moved halfway around the world
University College London PhD researcher Rachel Hill offered the BBC an answer: “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?”
Meanwhile, official logs of Skynet-1A’s status suggest that its final commanding was left in the US’s hands when Oakhanger lost sight of it in June 1977.
But the University of Texas at Austin’s aerospace engineering professor Moriba Jah warned that its current status comes with a high risk.
He said: “Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs… We need to avoid what I call super-spreader events.
“When these things explode or something collides with them, it generates thousands of pieces of debris that then become a hazard to something else that we care about.”
Skynet-1A is constantly monitored by the UK’s National Space Operations Centre, the Ministry of Defence says – but it may have to act to move it in future.
