The Satellite of Love (sometimes known as the SOL) is the fictional main setting of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. It is a giant bone-shaped spacecraft that Joel Robinson (later replaced by Mike Nelson) and his friends — robots Crow, Tom Servo, Gypsy, Cambot, and the noncorporeal Magic Voice — live in. The vessel is in orbit above Earth during much of the series, except for a journey to the end of the universe and its flight throughout the space-time continuum from Pearl Forrester. Its name is a reference to the Lou Reed song, "Satellite of Love".
According to the show's storyline, as part of an experiment to see how bad movies affected a person's mind, mad scientists Dr. Clayton Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt (aka "The Mads") kidnap Joel, place him on the Satellite of Love, and shoot him into space. In order to keep himself from going mad, Joel builds his robot friends from parts of the spacecraft — namely the controls used to begin and end the movie. Eventually, Gypsy incorrectly overhears that the Mads are finished with Joel, and plan to kill him, even though they really plan to kill their new temp, Mike Nelson. With the help of Mike, who discovers an escape pod in a box of "Hamdingers" after reading the SOL's manual, Gypsy forces Joel into it. Joel manages to safely return to Earth, where he crash-lands in the Australian Outback and eventually resumes his normal life. In response, the Mads kidnap Mike and send him up to the Satellite of Love to take Joel's place.