The mystery of the moving satellite

[Astro Pen]

The long defunct 1969 Skynet 1A satellite has moved halfway round the world and no one knows who moved it
Unfortunately it is parked in the middle of the 'satellite motorway' rather than safely in higher orbit as is now the normal practice.

Skynet-1A: Why did the UK's oldest satellite end up thousands of miles from where it should have been?

Britain's oldest satellite is in the wrong part of the sky, but no-one's really sure who moved it.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Harpo]

Skynet….mysteriously relocated….possibly dangerous?

I’ll be back

 

[Robert Zwilling]

Probably still had fuel in it and fired up by itself, maybe a faulty thruster that simply went off by accident or circuitry took on radiation damage and got modified. The fuel is good at staying active for long periods of time.

An old Boeing satellite blew up a month ago and has generated a cloud of debris which has become part of the mass of debris being tracked for potential collisions. It had been in orbit for 8 years. Initially, the communications company using it notified its customers that this specific satellite saw an "anomaly" October 19, 2024, when it suffered from power loss, and led to service disruptions for customers. It was supposed to be checked out but not long after the anomaly was discovered and made known, Boeing's satellite exploded in space. Its being investigated but you probably need pictures to see if it was a blast explosion or a physical collision with something or both.

Another satellite took a hit that created a 6mm hole in one of its solar panels but caused no power loss. The Satellite, has been in orbit 2 years, survived the impact with object in space, and took a selfie to prove it. The panel had not been inspected for 18 months so its not know when it happened. It discovered the hole October 24, 2024. Could have been a micrometeorite or a piece of space junk.