The United Kingdom’s oldest satellite mysteriously relocated itself, and no one knows why, or who moved it. Because of the satellite’s present condition, some also consider it to be a “ticking time bomb,” that could riddle space with debris.
Not to be mistaken with Hollywood’s Skynet, British satellite Skynet- 1A began orbiting Earth in 1969, and was originally positioned over Africa in order to facilitate secure voice, telegraph, and fax links for the British military and ships based in the Middle and Far East. Following its operational period, natural gravitational forces should have directed the defunct satellite toward the Indian Ocean region. However, the satellite has somehow found its way far off its intended path.
“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,” explained Dr. Stuart Eves, a space consultant. “And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.”
What Eves and others are concerned about is the satellite bumping into other space debris within a 50km radius up to four times daily. Eves notes, “Because it’s dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it’s ‘our’ satellite we’re still responsible for it.”
Skynet- 1A’s origin story can be tracked back to the United States, where it was built by Philco Ford aerospace company, which is no longer in operation. The satellite was taken into low-Earth orbit by a US Air Force Delta rocket in 1969, and after a brief testing period, it got handed over to the Royal Air Force.
It is after the operational period of Skynet- 1A ended where things become a bit hazy about which government agency was in control. According to a recent research paper by Dr. Aaron Bateman, “The first Skynet satellite revolutionized UK telecommunications capacity. However, from a technological standpoint, Skynet- 1A was more American than British since the United States both built and launched it.”
The problem seems to be no one knows when, or if, total control of Skynet 1A was given back to the US. Graham Davison, who operated Skynet- 1A from RAF Oakhanger in the early 1970s and is now in his 80’s, stated that while the Americans originally controlled the satellite in orbit, it was eventually handed over to the RAF. He added, “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.”
According to official records, the satellite’s final control remained with the US after Oakhanger lost its ability to track it in June 1977. This is when some believe the satellite was simply abandoned by both the US Air Force and the Royal Air Force.
Moriba Jah from the University of Texas at Austin remarked about the present condition of Skynet- 1A, “Pieces of space junk are like ticking time bombs.” Moriba added, “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.”