• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Dead Sats

Bob Maxey

Android Expert
Sep 24, 2010
4,836
806
From the AR Newsline:

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UK HAM LOCATES 1965 SATELLITE AS IT
RETURNS TO LIFE

An American satellite, abandoned in 1967 as a piece of space
junk has begun transmitting again after 46 years and a ham
radio operator is responsible for finding it. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has more:

Phil Williams, G3YPQ, is an Amateur Radio Astronomer in
North Cornwall in the U.K.. According to reports he
accidentally picked up the signal and after cross checking
with various lists, he identified it as LES 1.

LES 1 was built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and launched in 1965. The satellite failed to reach its
intended orbit owing to a wiring error and has been drifting
out of control ever since.

Williams ran across it while monitoring near 237 MHz when he
noticed a signal with a peculiar signal drift caused by the
bird tumbling end over end every 4 seconds as the solar
panels became shadowed by the satellites engine. Williams
said that gives the signal a particularly ghostly sound as
the voltage from the solar panels fluctuates.

The LES 1 satellite is about the size of a small car and is
not likely to re-enter the atmosphere for a long time as the
orbit is still relatively high. It poses no threat other
than that caused by the thousands of other pieces of space
junk currently in orbit. By now its likely that the on
board batteries have now disintegrated so its likely that
some other component failure has caused the transmitter to
start up when its in sunlight bringing the ghost satellite
back to life.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in
Los Angeles.

G3YPQ says its remarkable to think that electronics built
nearly 5 decades ago, 12 years before Voyager 1, and long
before microprocessors and integrated circuits, is still
capable of working in the hostile environs of space. He
adds that listening to the signal one can easily imagine the
craft tumbling over and over every 4 seconds and the
transmitter starting up as the sun rises on its solar
panels. (G3YPQ)
 

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones