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Satellite Back From The Dead

Posted by Hemos on from the return-of-the-living-satellite dept.

Papa Legba writes "Just ran across this amazing story about an amateur satellite that has returned from the dead. AMSAT-OSCAR 7 was launched in 1974 for radio hobbyists to use. In 1981 the onboard batteries died and the satellite went silent. Then on June 21st 2002, 20 years later, a hobbyist testing some new equipment made an amazing discovery. AMSAT-OSCAR 7 is live once more, both broadcasting and accepting signals. The theory expounded is that the dead battery short that took the satellite offline has cleared and it is now only running on its solar cells. While this does restrict it to daytime use, it is amazing that it works at all. " This was in the science section before - but worth the front page.

3 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Great reporting by Telecommando · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Papa Legba writes "Just ran across this amazing story about an amateur satellite that has
    returned from the dead.

    Let me guess, he didn't happen to run across this story on say... SLASHDOT?

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  2. Comes back alive... by Your_Mom · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ...only to be slastdotted out of exitence...

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  3. "Was in the science section prev.- but worth front by aengblom · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Listen up!!!

    Hemos:

    "This was in the science section before - but worth the front page."

    Moderate me redundant when people stop compaining that it was on slashdot yesterday! ;-)

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