Long-Lost US Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator

So... there really ARE zombies in outer space that pose, however small, a real threat....

 

That's normal... and your point is?

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

 

Hope it isn't picking up fake news....

 

HI SCOTT CONGRATOULATION FOR YOUR MUCH SATELITET MUCH vy73 DJOAJ ekrem

 

Very cool, Ham Radio Sleuthing of a lost satellite.

 

Maybe the satellite was V'ger (evolved from remains of Voyager 6)?

Jerry W4CDO

 

Spock: V'Ger must evolve. Its knowledge has reached the limits of this universe, and it must evolve. What it requires of its god, Doctor, is the answer to its question -- Is there nothing more?

 

LES-5 Tactical Satellite Communication Program 1967 US Air Force, MIT Lincoln Lab
see video linked below

 

Its frightening to think these old bits of "military" junk are still floating about out there... too near they would come back down, too far and they supposedly would fly away into space.. how come this one is still there in a perfect orbit...does it still have a working guidance system running the show.? if the military aren't using it anymore ( the title said military) then why isn't it commanded to reduce speed and drift down into a declining orbit and burn up over the pacific somewhere safe from any hard bits...I know saturn has bands of rocks that have self stabilised, but im dammed if I understand the mechanics of how that's possible.. like balancing a broom handle vertically on a grain of salt , no matter how vertical the object is to the field of gravity, it will be off a few microns and over time will start to fall over..how come these don't drift out of the safe zone?

 

Once they're in orbit, they're in orbit. No further input to the system is required, unless something is acting on the satellite to disturb it. Low orbits decay because of the drag caused by the upper atmosphere. Above that, there isn't much... Solar wind, radiation pressure of the Sun's light... But these are minor.

Consider the Moon. It's been in orbit for billions of years... No corrections necessary.

 

Leap Year is a correction.

 

Well , yes, it's a correction to the calendar, to make it better fit the natural duration of Earth's orbit around the Sun, which isn't a nice even number of days. Not sure where you're going with this...

 

The distance from the Earth to the Moon increases by about 38mm, or 1.5 inches, per year. The Moon will never leave it's orbit around the Earth however, the Sun will become a red giant and engulf them before that would happen.

The Earth's day increases by about 15 microseconds every year, this is accounted for in the periodic addition of a "leap second", which is added to UTC time to compensate for the difference between precise time and observed solar time.

 

Vous aimez les scènes d'ouverture du film Wall-e? Dites-moi, que comptez-vous? Ramener les satellites à travers l'atmosphère de la Terre afin qu'ils puissent brûler à leur retour et nous frapper à la tête?

 

Yes, but you have to collect in person