When we lose an object in space, it’s usually gone forever.
That’s the fate that everyone was expecting for LES-1 (short for the Lincoln Experimental Satellite), which disappeared from all tracking devices in 1967. There were eight more LES satellites launched over the following ten years, but LES-1 was never recovered.
Amateur astronomers were the first ones to pick up LES-1’s new transmissions in 2013.
Phil Williams from the United Kingdom said he heard a “ghostly sound” in the satellite’s signal. Some people even thought it might be sending alien voices to Earth.
Scientists have no idea why LES-1 is suddenly working again after tumbling through space all this time.
Getty Images
The most likely cause is the same faulty wiring that made it go offline to begin with.
Read More: This Object Has Been Orbiting The Earth For 50 Years, But No One Knows What It Is
Comments