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2nd-penalty t1_j1tv56z wrote

How tf do you even lose a satellite? I know space is big n all but this is ridiculous, did they just forgot about it?

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wanikiyaPR t1_j1tzcqz wrote

They left the floppy disk with location coordinates near a magnet.

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Pharisaeus t1_j1uui4d wrote

It was not "lost" in terms of unknown location, but in terms of loss of communication due to a comm system failure. It came back online many years later, thanks to hard-reset caused by deep discharge of batteries when it when in Earth's shadow long enough. At this point no-one was trying to communicate with it any more, and amateur astronomer accidentally picked up the signal.

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