BBC/Jerry Fletcher
Artwork: Halfton’s Skynet-1A satellite was launched in November 1969
Someone moved Britain’s oldest satellite, but there appears to be no record of exactly who moved it, when or why.
Launched in 1969, just months after the first man set foot on the moon, Skynet 1A was stationed over the east coast of Africa to relay British military communications.
When the spacecraft ceased operations several years later, it might have been expected that gravity would pull it further east into the Indian Ocean.
But strangely enough, Skynet 1A is now actually located half a world away, 22,369 miles (36,000 km) above the American continent.
Orbital mechanics mean it’s unlikely that the half-ton military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.
It was almost certainly ordered to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to advance westward. The question is: who was it, and what were its powers and objectives?
It’s interesting how important information that was once a vital national security asset can just evaporate. But appeal aside, some may wonder why it’s still important. After all, we are talking about space junk that was discarded 50 years ago.
“It’s still relevant because the people who ran Skynet 1A did us very little,” said space consultant Dr. Stuart Eves.
“The satellite is currently in a so-called ‘gravity well’ at 105 degrees west longitude, wandering back and forth like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately, this regularly brings it close to other satellite traffic. I will.”
“Because it’s dead, there’s a risk that it could hit something. And since it’s ‘our’ satellite, we’re still responsible,” he explains.
BBC/Jerry Fletcher
If the satellite dies at 40 degrees east, it will drift into the nearest gravity well at 75 degrees east.
Dr Eves scoured old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoke to satellite experts around the world, but found no clues about what Britain’s oldest spacecraft would do at the end of its useful life.
You might want to consider a conspiracy theory or two. Especially since when you hear the name “Skynet,” it’s hard not to think of the malicious, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system from the Terminator movies.
But there is no connection other than name, and in any case, real life is always more mundane.
What we do know is that Skynet-1A was manufactured in the United States by the now-defunct Philco-Ford Aerospace Company and launched into space by a US Air Force Delta rocket.
“The first Skynet satellite revolutionized Britain’s communications capabilities, allowing London to communicate securely with British troops as far away as Singapore. But from a technical perspective, Skynet-1A “It was American-built and launched, so it was more American than British,” said Dr. Aaron Bateman in a recent paper on the history of the Skynet program, now in its fifth generation.
This view is confirmed by Graham Davison, who flew Skynet-1A from the British Operations Center at RAF Oakhangar in Hampshire in the early 70s.
“Originally the Americans controlled the satellites in orbit. They tested all our software against theirs and then ultimately handed control over to the Royal Air Force.” a retired engineer told me.
“There was essentially dual management, but unfortunately I can’t remember when or why Skynet 1A was returned to the Americans, as it probably was,” said Davison, now in his 80s. . .
Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum
Did the command to operate Skynet-1A come from the US Air Force’s “Blue Cube”?
Rachel Hill, a PhD student at University College London, has also been combing through the National Archives.
Her reading led her to one very reasonable possibility.
“The Orchanger Skynet team will travel to the U.S. Air Force Satellite Facility (colloquially known as the Blue Cube) in Sunnyvale to operate Skynet during the ‘Orcout.’ This was when control was temporarily transferred to the United States while Oakhanger was down for critical maintenance. Perhaps it was this time. Is it possible that the movement occurred then? ” Ms. Hill surmised.
Although incomplete, official records regarding Skynet-1A’s status suggest that final command fell into American hands when Oakhanger lost sight of the satellite in June 1977. .
However, Skynet-1A was then moved to its current location, but ended up dying in an awkward location, even though it actually should have been placed in an “orbital graveyard”. was allowed.
This refers to an even higher region of the sky where there is zero risk of old space junk colliding with a working communications satellite.
Establishing cemeteries is now standard practice, but in the 1970s no one was thinking much about space sustainability.
astro scale
British engineers are developing technology to capture malfunctioning satellites in low orbit
Since then, attitudes have changed as the space realm has become more crowded.
At 105 degrees west longitude, an active satellite could observe junk approaching within 50 km of its location up to four times a day.
That may not sound like they’re close to each other, but the speeds these vanishing objects are moving are making them a little too close for comfort.
The Ministry of Defense said Skynet 1A is constantly monitored by the UK’s National Space Operations Center. Other satellite operators will be notified if a particularly close merger is likely to occur in case evasive action is required.
Northrop Grumman
Americans have already shown that it is possible to capture high-orbiting satellites
But eventually the UK government may have to consider removing old satellites to safer locations.
Technologies are being developed to recover junk left in space.
The UK Space Agency is already funding efforts to do this at lower altitudes, and the US and China could trap aging hardware even in high orbits such as the one occupied by Skynet 1A. It shows that there is.
“Fragments of space debris are like ticking time bombs,” said Moriba Jha, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
“We need to avoid so-called superspreader events. When these things explode or something collides, it creates thousands of pieces of debris that we then use to create other objects that we’re interested in. It becomes dangerous for things.”
