Launched in 1969, just a few months after man first set foot on the moon, Skynet-1A was installed high above the east coast of Africa to provide communications for British troops.
When the spacecraft ceased operations a few years later, one might have expected gravity to pull it even further east, over the Indian Ocean.
But today, interestingly enough, Skynet 1A is actually half a planet away, at an altitude of 22,369 miles (36,000 km) above the Americas.
Orbital mechanics mean that it is unlikely that the half-ton military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.
Almost certainly, in the mid-1970s, it was ordered to fire its engines to take it westward. The question is, who was it, with what authority, and for what purpose?
It’s intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset could simply evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we’re talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.
“It’s still relevant because whoever moved Skynet 1A hasn’t done us much favors,” says space consultant Dr. Stuart Eaves.
“It’s now in what’s called a ‘gravity well’ at 105 degrees west longitude, wandering back and forth like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately, this regularly brings it closer to other satellite traffic.
“Because it’s dead, there’s a risk that it could crash into something, and because it’s ‘our’ satellite, we’re still responsible for it,” he explains.
Dr. Eaves has looked through old satellite catalogs, the National Archives, and spoken to satellite experts around the world, but he hasn’t found any clues about the behavior of Britain’s oldest spacecraft at the end of its life cycle.
It might be tempting to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon, not least because it’s hard to hear the name “Skynet” without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in the Terminator movie franchise.
But there is no connection beyond the name, and in any case, real life is always more prosaic.
