Anything useful or creative that you can do with old satellites?

Question

Hey I have an Old satalite reciever (the internals) from one of those old big satallites. I was wondering if anything useful or creative could be done with it. Like connect it to your computer or something. Any Ideas ?

(other then put it in the ground or plant it or recycle it because I ONLY have the reciever part.)

Answer 1

Um Im not so sure about the technical stuff but you could make it into  a giant solar panel or ray of doom by reflecting sunlight-you could burn any nosey neighbours.Hope this helps!

Answer 2

why not use it as a decorative piece ;)

Answer 3

If the receiver is in good working order, it is likely it could be adapted for another use. For one thing, it's surely a very high quality piece of equipment. Perhaps you could use it to build your own radio telescope or ham radio set, once you determine the specifications for it.

Answer 4

There are three kinds of old satellites.  First, there are the ones that have come back down to the ground.  Many never make it this far.  If little bits made it to the ground, then you can put them into a museum and charge 50 cents to see them.

Second, there are the ones still in orbit, but are non-functional.  For these, if you are already in orbit, consider that they are worth $10,000 per pound to you.  It costs quite a bit to get stuff up to where you are, so you should make the best use you can of any junk hanging around.  Perhaps you can melt some of the stuff down and make new junk from it.

Third, there are old satellites in orbit that are still functional.  These are the easiest to use, because they already do something.  But, if they are not in use, then there's generally a good reason.  And that's where the real creativity comes in.

Answer 5

It has one use: Museum piece

There must be a collector or museum that would love to get a hold of it. Such people would treat it well and hopefully make sure future generations can learn of how mankind started out in our space faring ways.

Seriously there is little else to do with it.

Answer 6

Some people collect old radio gear, particularly if it is good condition and high quality.  Check the amateur radio and vintage radio sites.

Or put it on ebay