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from the it-was-obstructing-my-view-of-Venus dept.
Intelsat 29e (IS29e) has failed irrecoverably and is now drifting out of control in Geosynchronous orbit.
The satellite experienced damage on April 7th which caused a propellant leak. This resulted in disruption of service for "maritime, aeronautical and wireless operator customers in the Latin America, Caribbean and North Atlantic regions." While they worked to recover the satellite, a second anomoly occurred, at which point all further efforts to recover the satellite failed.
Luxembourg-based Intelsat has declared its IS-29E a total loss, [this] “means it will continue to drift uncontrolled along its current orbit in GEO,” explains T.S. Kelso, the operator of CelesTrak, a leading source for orbital element sets and related software to keep an eye on satellites and orbital debris.
[...] [T.S.]Kelso tweeted back on April 16th that the current situation with IS-29E “continues to be quite troubling,” with the troubled satellite spiraling around IS-11 & IS-32E. Additionally there are reports of 13 pieces of associated debris, he reported.
IS29e is now drifting around geosynchronous orbit at about 1.2 degrees of longitude per day. This means that it will make a complete circuit of the globe in about 10 months. The other 500 functioning satellites in Geosynchronous orbit will need to keep watch on yet another object and steer clear of it.
An earlier tweet on April 11th by Kelso sheds light on the second anomaly:
Kelso said: “Watched nervously” this morning as IS-29E and NASA’s Tracking Data Relay Satellite 3 “had what we consider a ‘nightmare scenario’ in GEO — a high-speed encounter — (~1 km/s). Let’s wish Intelsat luck on getting IS-29E back under control.”
TDRS 3 was retired in December 2011 and no longer used, it was placed in 'storage' in its current orbit. Presumably lacking sufficient propellant to boost to a graveyard orbit, or with an eye towards making use of it in the future.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Monday April 22 2019, @01:36PM
Delta V. / total energy
There is no drag. Mass is still there 100%.
You have to subtract enough total energy that the satellite begins to drag in the atmosphere, or so that it exceeds escape velocity for the Earth. That's going to be higher to reach escape velocity.
Anything that's going to bring down a satellite has to first reach the same orbit as the satellite (using fuel), then it's got to slow it's own mass and the mass of the satellite. A heavy satellite is going to need lots of fuel to bring down. Then too, one that's been hit and isn't in control is going to be tumbling. You've got to catch it with something that's got a robust grappling system that won't break anything and spray more debris. That's going to be heavy too.
So anything that does that using current tech is going to be heavy, and single use. Or even heavier to add a refueling system.
For that to happen launch costs have to fall. SpaceX has made a start in that direction.