Zombie satellite

A zombie satellite is a satellite that begins communicating again after an extended period of inactivity. It is a type of space debris, which describes all defunct human-made objects in outer space. At the end of their service life, the majority of satellites suffer from orbital decay and are destroyed by the heat of atmospheric entry. Zombie satellites, however, maintain a stable orbit but are either partially or completely inoperable, preventing operators from communicating with them consistently.

History

Transit 5B-5

One of the oldest known zombie satellites is Transit 5B-5.[1] It was launched in 1965 as part of the Transit system, one of the first satellite navigation systems.[2] Transit 5B-5 is nuclear powered and still in a stable polar orbit, though operators are unable to control it.

LES-1

LES-1, also known as Lincoln Experimental Satellite 1, was a communications satellite launched by the United States Air Force on February 11, 1965 to study the use of UHF (ultrahigh-frequency) radio transmissions. It never achieved optimal orbit and was out of contact for more than 40 years before spontaneously resuming transmissions in 2012.[3][4]

Galaxy 15

Galaxy 15 is a U.S. telecommunications satellite launched in 2005. In April 2010, only five years into a planned 15 year mission, its operator, Intelsat, lost control of the satellite and it drifted out of its orbital slot. Several months later, on December 27, 2010, the satellite rebooted itself and began responding to commands again.[5] Intelsat re-positioned it back to its original orbital slot in April 2011.

IMAGE

Launched in 2000, IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration), a NASA spacecraft studying the Earth's magnetosphere, unexpectedly ceased operations in December 2005. It was a zombie satellite until Scott Tilley, an amateur radio operator living in Canada tracked it down in January 2018.[6] On February 25, contact with IMAGE was again lost. It was reestablished in March but lost again in August. NASA is currently evaluating a recovery mission.[7]

Zuma

USA-280 (codenamed Zuma) was a classified U.S. government satellite launched by SpaceX on January 8, 2018. The government reported that the $3.5 billion satellite likely failed to deploy properly and re-entered the atmosphere.[8][9] Despite that announcement, the secrecy surrounding the mission generated speculation regarding its fate.[10] Amateur astronomers attempted to locate any trace of Zuma visually. [11] It has been implied that the search for Zuma indirectly led to the rediscovery of IMAGE.[12]

LES-5

On March 24, 2020, contact with another lost Lincoln Experimental Satellite, LES-5, was made by Scott Tilley.[13] The satellite is only in operation when its solar panels are receiving sunlight.

See also

References
  1. "Receiving Dead Satellites with the RTL-SDR". Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  2. "Transit Satellite: Precursor to Global Positioning System". www.darpa.mil.
  3. Moore, Trent (November 3, 2016). "An abandoned 1960's U.S. satellite recently started transmitting a 'ghostly' signal". SYFY WIRE.
  4. "'Zombie' Satellite Comes Back to Life 46 Years After It Stopped Sending Signals". The Weather Channel.
  5. December 2010, Denise Chow 30. "'Zombie' Satellite Comes Back to Life". Space.com.
  6. "Meet a Citizen Scientist: Scott Tilley".
  7. "NASA's On-Again, Off-Again Satellite".
  8. "Probes Point to Northrop Grumman Errors in January Spy-Satellite Failure".
  9. "The Zuma failure has emboldened critics of SpaceX". 19 January 2018.
  10. "Theories are Swirling About SpaceX-Zuma's "Failed" Mission".
  11. "Meet the amateur astronomers who track secretive spy satellites for fun".
  12. "Amateur Astronomer Looks for Zuma, Finds Long-Lost NASA Satellite". 31 January 2018.
  13. "Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite Found By Amateur Radio Operator". NPR.org.
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