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A comment on Abandoned in space in 1967, a US satellite has started transmitting again. Parent comment

Re:Abandoned in space in 1967, a US satellite has started tr... by mikeash on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @11:23AM (#12855688)
Another reason is that nobody is detonating nuclear bombs in space these days. A major cause of Telstar's short life was intense radiation from high-altitude nuclear tests. I'm not sure how long it would have lasted without that....
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Re:Abandoned in space in 1967, a US satellite has started tr... by InclinedPlane on Thursday November 03, 2016 @12:05AM (#12861510)
Hah, well, that only happened once. And even so the overall lifespan of satellites was not very long back then.
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Re:Abandoned in space in 1967, a US satellite has started tr... by mikeash on Thursday November 03, 2016 @10:59AM (#12864477)
Yeah, I definitely get the impression that Telstar might have lasted two years instead of one if not for the nuclear tests, but not decades.
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