Galaxy 15 Update – Jan. 13, 2011

By
published


SpaceNews.com reported Intelsat Moving Recovered Galaxy 15 to Test Location and said the satellite is being moved to 93 degrees west longitude. It is expected to arrive at that location by the end of this week.

The Intelsat Ephemeris showed the satellite reaching 266 degrees East Longitude (94 degrees West Longitude) on Jan. 2, and soon after that stabilizing near 266.5 degrees EL (93.5 degrees West Longitude).

SpaceNews.com said Dianne VanBeber, Intelsat's VP for investor relations and communications, said the board of inquiry looking into what happened to the satellite is expected to deliver its conclusion by the end of January. Orbital Sciences and its current satellite customers modified in-orbit satellites of similar design and retrofitted satellites under construction to reduce the chance of similar problems.

SpaceNews.com reported Tobias Nassif, Intelsat VP for satellite operations and engineering said Intelsat was still confident that the satellite could be placed back in service without danger of its returning to "rogue" status.

"Intelsat and Orbital have tested the reset maneuver on the ground since April and have concluded that switching on the satellite will not trigger a repeat of a loss of control," he said. "Launched in October 2005 on a planned 15-year mission, the satellite has enough on-board fuel remaining that Intelsat and Orbital Sciences will try to recover its full functions."

Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.