Official News page 6

REAL LIFE NEWS: ZOMBIE SATELLITE THREATENS CHAOS

by Hazed

There's a whole lot of satellites in orbit around the Earth, providing all kinds of useful functions. But one satellite has gone rogue and is threatening to interfere with lots of others. Don't panic, it's not going to fall on our heads, but it could disrupt services - yes, maybe your TV viewing will be interrupted - the horror!

The Galaxy 15 comms satellite lost contact with ground control, probably because a solar flare fried its brain. Attempts to establish control again have failed, and Intelsat (its owner) can't get it to take any instructions. So it continues on its way, orbiting the Earth, but drifting out of its traditional path just a little.

This risks bringing it closer to other satellites. There's an obvious threat that it could crash into something, but there's also a more subtle problem: its communications payload is stuck in the "on" position and continues to broadcast, so it could start to interfere with other satellites' signals.

You can read more about the zombie satellite here.

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