OSCAR 7 is Alive

AB3A writes :"Originally launched November 15, 1974, OSCAR 7 was long thought to be dead from natural causes (radiation, battery failure, space junk, etc.). However, AMSAT reports that it has recently been heard on the air! This probably isn't a record, but it does rank right up there with spacecraft such as Pioneer. I wonder how many other satellites out there have been given up for dead but are still functional at some reduced capacity?"

Comments

Was alive

[heikkile]

But now it is dead again, thanks to the slashdot effect

the real thing?

[tps12]

Interesting. So this satellite has long since dropped off the face of the solar system. And then, one day, without warning...it's back?

Excuse me?

News flash: satellites don't fix themselves.

As Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, "once you have ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be correct." Or something to that effect.

In any case, I see to possibilities as to what really happened:

1. the satellite was "replaced" by a foreign government, so as to appear to be the genuine OSCAR 7 while monitoring all of our transmissions, and
2. the satellite was "replaced" by...someone else.

Now I'm not one to start telling UFO stories, but I don't want to rule out the second possibility (see Holmes quotation above). At the very least, we should approach the purported OSCAR 7 very cautiously. And we might want to start preparing a welcoming committee, too...just in case.

Re:the real thing?

[Cryptosporidium]

"And Sherlock Holmes was a character."

Ah, that's what you think. They may have already gotten to you.

Re:the real thing?

[Red_Winestain]

As Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, "once you have ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be correct."

But as Dirk Gently rejoins, "I reject that entirely...The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks."

Re:the real thing?

[g4dget]

Interesting. So this satellite has long since dropped off the face of the solar system. And then, one day, without warning...it's back? News flash: satellites don't fix themselves.

Ah, but when they get captured and repaired by super-powerful machine intelligences they come back to earth bigger, better, and badder than before. OSCAR 7 DEMANDS TO SEE THE CREATOR.

getting close to July 4th you know what that means

[Tumbleweed]

"They're using our own satellites against us!"

Somebody get ahold of Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith. I've got a project for them.

Or maybe we should just hand this one off to the Men in Black.

More info...

[robslimo]

More AO-7 status info here

Interesting to note that it is expected (and wasn't made clear in the original article) that OSCAR-7 is operating on the solar array only. Meaning that it shuts down when it's not in sunlight and may or may not reboot each sunlight period. I find that believable because I wouldn't expect a NiCd battery pack to last even half that number of years. Especially given the type of charging circuit that was probably used in those days. Nobody used the dV/dT fast/smart charge method way back when.

Oh, shit

[Snafoo]

Here we go again.

Someone prepare a bald-headed chick and a transporter beam... 'ocar' is back.

Re:Oh, shit

[teambpsi]

why, is kirstie alley now in chemo ??

:)

Re:Anyone got the Keps?

[robslimo]

Arg.

Should have checked the front page at www.amsat.org

Here are the keps for AO-7 if anyone else cares...

AO-07
1 07530U 74089B 02167.52996888 -.00000029 00000-0 10000-3 0 935
2 07530 101.7955 212.2077 0012102 193.4285 166.6467 12.53558681262239