PageFault t1_j1um0ar wrote on December 27, 2022 at 2:58 PM

Reply to comment by LogicalExtension in Meet the amateur astronomer who found a lost NASA satellite by jarvedttudd

If they knew where it was, then why were they excited that he found it?

LogicalExtension t1_j1wbobo wrote on December 27, 2022 at 9:54 PM

Again, lost contact. The exciting bit was that they started hearing from it again.

NASA only has so much capacity to talk to different space missions. The Deep Space Network system is in high demand, and they won't waste time trying to reach out to dead systems.

For instance, say tomorrow that Spirit or Opportunity Mars rovers started back up and were trying to phone home. Nobody is listening for them. They're 'lost' missions.

If, however, someone noticed this extra signal coming from Mars then there would be a whole lot of super excited people. You'd see more 'Lost Mars rovers found again' headlines.

PageFault t1_j1x7ycv wrote on December 28, 2022 at 1:48 AM

So you think the amateur astrologist was able to figure out how to communicate with it but NASA couldn't? Interesting.

LogicalExtension t1_j1xhjkz wrote on December 28, 2022 at 3:03 AM

Not communicate, just see that it was sending a signal that it wasn't before.

There's publicly accessible databases of all known satellites. You look up in a part of the sky and see a signal, you can look up what's in that orbit. For most, you can then find public information. If it's a satellite that's supposed to have died, and you're seeing a signal, well - that's interesting.