Zombie Satellite Awakens: Defunct 1960s NASA Orbiter Blasts Earth with Mysterious Radio Pulse
Relay 2 was a NASA experimental communications satellite built by RCA, launched January 21, 1964, atop a Delta B rocket from Cape Canaveral, designed to relay television signals and study Earth’s radiation belts. Ground support for Relay 2 ended by September 1965, and its transmitters began failing, with the first transponder dying on November 20, 1966. The second transponder failed on June 9, 1967, leaving Relay 2 officially defunct and transmitting for less than three years. Relay 2 weighed about 78 kg (172 lb) at launch and orbited in an elliptical medium Earth orbit roughly 1,870 km by 7,600 km.
