American Satellite Abandoned In 1967 Mysteriously Comes Back Online after 50 years!

Maybe it's like kicking an old appliance that sometimes gets them working again, and so a micro meteor struck it and gave it a kick start, that, or aliens fixed it.

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

Yes....or the old "percussive maintenance" technique.

We ladies like that one ---- it's not working? Bang on it!! Smack it, nudge it...tilt, you know.....

lol!!!!

a reply to: MuonToGluon

in this case it degraded in the right way to bridge a relay

When you say this...I'm thinking lottery odds.


edit: to me this is akin to a chance that an old car that has been broken 30 years ago and was left for dead in the rain and other elements...sort off degraded to such a degree that in fact repaired itself and stated working again...simply because...time heals all wounds ?

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

it's not working? Bang on it!! Smack it, nudge it...tilt, you know.....

You'd be amazed how many times it actually works

a reply to: MarioOnTheFly

Actually yes, simply like an old car that does not have microchips, a computer, and a fuel injection unit, but a carburetor instead.

Take out the old battery, put in a new one or jumper lead it, a little fuel, and bang, car started.

In the sats case, can't put a new battery in so it's powered by a direct jumper lead from the solar panels, and will only work as long as the solar panels are pointed at the sun light, when no power (jumper lead off) the sat stops working again (car stalls).

Remember the satellites circuitry is pre-microchip, the battery is a mass of metal that the more heat from the sun on the solar panels would charge and melt/degrade the battery more and more.

What happens with a thin copper wire when you bridge it on a 9v battery? Think of that constantly over a 40+ year period on a battery in a harsh environment being constantly heated, charged, frozen, constricting, expanding and repeat non-stop for 4 decades.

How much junk have we launched into space? And how many satellites have failed from the beginning of the space age from all countries? the odds of one powering on is likely to happen after 50 years, so lottery odds have indeed happened.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: BuzzyWigs

it's not working? Bang on it!! Smack it, nudge it...tilt, you know.....

You'd be amazed how many times it actually works

Nono....I KNOW how often it works. That's why I do it!

a reply to: hellobruce

Some of the reports said the operational frequency was ~8GHZ when LES1 was first orbited in 1965.
That is a different frequency than the Black Knight satellite which probably predated Barney and Betty Hill.
Not much operating at GHZ in 1965 except maybe breakaway Civ communications.

Usually we have to reverse engineer the technology from desert crash sites.
Pull the red wire and trace the blue wire back to the power source to find the flashy alien symbols.
Whats this? Myron Strongin, O. F. Kammerer, and Arthur Paskin?

Probably why Rush chose Aimee Mann for the vocals in "Time stand still"