[ WP ] American satellite started transmitting 46 years after being abandoned in 1967

It was just a curiosity, really. Just a practical test of a new autonomous `` satellite shepherd'' and its VASIMIR thrusters. They could have selected any old piece of space debris, but the LES1 had favorable orbital parameters. 
 
 In 2025, NASA dispatched one of AARC's new orbital tugs to retrieve the satellite, after over half a century in space. They hoped to learn how space weathering and radiation had affected it, and why it had managed to turn itself on. It was n't until it was back on its way to low earth orbit that anyone noticed the odd piece of foil wrapped around one end, visible in an image from the retrieval craft. Even then, it was dismissed as a piece of insulation from its booster. 
 
 The LES1 was delivered to the ISS three months later, for examination. Aside from a few enthusiasts' posts in r/space, public reaction was muted. This was the sort of thing that was fascinating to engineers and historians, and literal garbage to most everyone else. 
 
 Outwardly, little appeared to have changed. The access panel was surprisingly easy to remove. The odd foil was nearly discarded, until someone noticed something written on it. The markings were unrecognizable to any of the six astronauts, appearing something like rounded cuneiforms. Images of the foil were relayed to mission control, when the Department of Defense promptly ended the analysis project. The data was appropriated for `` security reasons'', the old satellite was tied back to the exterior of the ISS like an old car in a rural back yard, and the astronauts were told on no uncertain terms to return to their other experiments. 
 
 ( contd later )
