Someone moved the old Skynet-1A military satellite, launched by the British Ministry of Defense in 1969. But Britain says they will not go.
Context Skynet-1A was the first British satellite. Although it is no longer operational, its role was to strengthen communications between London and British military forces stationed in remote locations such as Singapore.
At the end of its useful life, Skynet-1A was expected to decay until it entered the Indian Ocean at 75 degrees east longitude. But not before.
He moved to the center of the planet. A gravitational hole is a specific region of geostationary orbit where satellites tend to accumulate due to variations in the Earth’s gravitational field.
According to the laws of orbital mechanics, Skynet-1A was supposed to fall into a crater over the Indian Ocean, but it moved mid-planet and was located at 105 degrees west longitude on the American continent.
A very simple explanation. It is very difficult for satellites to reach their position without human intervention, so the simplest explanation; announcing BBC NewsIt is a fire move that was released sometime in the 1970s.
Rachel Hill, a researcher at University College Londonit is suspected that the eros It is possible that the Americans will carry it, he says, when the station undergoes British maintenance, since control of the satellites will then be temporarily transferred to American personnel.
Graham Davison, the chief engineer of Skynet-1A, admits that control of the satellite may be transferred to the United States, but does not mention specific details.
What is the problem? In an unexpected final orbit, Skynet-1A is in danger. The British satellite is not maneuverable and has been quiet for decades, but it is constantly approaching satellites that do the job.
“Whoever moved Skynet-1A has done us no favors,” space law consultant Stuart Eves told the BBC. Under the terms of the agreement, the United Kingdom remains responsible for any conflict, although the British Ministry of Defense swears that it will do nothing with its occupation.
There is another possibility. The UK Ministry of Defense says Skynet-1A is being continuously monitored by the UK’s National Space Operations Centre. However, his obsession is as strange as the director of the Celestrak TS Kelso another hypothesis: the object to follow is not really Skynet-1A.
A change in attitude. In the 1970s, there was no concern for the sustainability of the Earth’s orbit, much less for space debris management. Today, with space much more crowded, space agencies are imposing responsible practices for deorbiting or moving dormant satellites to the orbital graveyard.
A plethora of startups also emerged that developed technologies to capture and deorbit satellites; like the Japanese Astroscale.
Images | MoD Scott Tilley
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