Experts baffled after Britain's first military satellite shows up where it shouldn't

 Britain's first military communications satellite, Skynet-1A, has been mysteriously moved decades after it was decommissioned, leaving experts scratching their heads over who or when.

Launched from Florida in 1969 on a Delta rocket to relay secure communications for the UK's armed forces in Africa, Skynet suffered hardware problems and ceased functioning around 18 months into its mission.

The spacecraft, the oldest UK satellite still floating in space, was effectively abandoned to drift in a geostationary orbit some 36,000 kilometres above Earth.

However, satellite specialists are baffled as Skynet-1A is not where simple physics suggest it should be. Someone has moved it - likely in the 70s - and by so much that it now sits on the opposite side of the world from where it should be.

Instead of hovering above Africa, it is orbiting over the Americas in a remarkably stable position. This strongly suggests the satellite was deliberately manoeuvred at some point, likely using its onboard thrusters, reports the Daily Star.

Exactly when this happened remains a mystery. Tracking of the craft was patchy in the mid-1970s, and any detailed operational records from the period appear either sparse or lost.

This uncertainty has sparked speculation about how and by whom the relocation was carried out.

Although Skynet-1A was Britain's first military communications satellite, it was constructed and partially controlled by the United States, with both nations able to issue commands.

During scheduled downtime at the UK's Oakhanger ground station, a joint team allegedly ran the satellite from a US Air Force base in Sunnyvale, California - the location long dubbed the 'Blue Cube'.

Rachel Hill, a PhD researcher at University College London who has been examining the National Archives, told the BBC: "A Skynet team from Oakhanger would go to the USAF satellite facility in Sunnyvale and operate Skynet during 'Oakout'.

"This was when control was temporarily transferred to the US while Oakhanger was down for essential maintenance. Perhaps the move could have happened then?".

There remains no concrete evidence to identify such a manoeuvre to a particular timeframe or operator, and neither British nor American officials have publicly admitted to ordering a relocation.

While the puzzle has a fascinating Cold War element, it also carries contemporary consequences. The geostationary orbit represents crowded and precious territory for communications and weather satellites. A dead spacecraft positioned in an unplanned location can create crash hazards or limit where functioning satellites can securely function.

Should Skynet-1A ever smash into another spacecraft, establishing who directed its final movement could carry legal ramifications for responsibility under international space law. For now, the satellite remains a mystery: a remnant of early military spaceflight whose current location contradicts the historical record.

What's clear is that somewhere, at some point, someone commanded Skynet-1A to fire - and it obeyed.