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Astra 1K Communications Satellite now Space Junk
bachelor#3 writes "Astra 1K, which was to replace 3 other satellites, didn't make it. Launch services were being provided by International Launch Services. Here's a timeline, from T-minus 30 minutes onwards."
Seeing as it was made by Alcatel Space and Alcatel just axed another 10,000 jobs yesterday (or the day before?) Do you think it was a sign? I'm just a conspiracy nut.
(ddaadaataaday! wee! look at me, I'm waiting for my 2-minute-filter to wear! ladeedaa)
HURD - Hurd's Under Research & Development
I cant tell if this is breaking news or just a factoid of trivia.
"Both the satellite and the booster will after a while fall back to Earth. Both will burn with maybe small bits reaching the Earth's surface, depending on what materials the satellite was made of," Kreidenko said. "But there is no danger."
Just how sure are they that there is no danger? I'd rather not be hit by a 200mph pebble of debris...
Brevity is the soul of wit
-- Polonius
Thats nothing! Compare that to Iridium, which had 66 satellites that became space junk shortly after being launched. :-)
Every time we stick something up there in space (yes, this one didn't even make it that far), we put another obstacle in orbit for future generations to evade in their spaceshots. Likewise, we are detracting from the natural beauty of the skies by putting reflective crap like this up there.
When future generations look at the stars, do we want them to dream about soaring like gods to other planets, or do we want them to think that space is just a place we put all of our shit?
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia has failed to put a five-tonne European communications satellite properly into orbit and it will now circle uselessly until it eventually falls back to Earth, space officials said.
Nice, does that mean we will have another chance at free tacos from taco bell! ??
would help us all know why this is so important to the /. community
The French-made Astra satellite is the world's biggest communications satellite, with antennae spanning 37 metres. It was due to be used for radio and television broadcasts as well as for mobile telephone and Internet services in western Europe.
"She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
If this was done by the same folks who handle the "Rich Bastards Go To Space" missions I am more then willing to contribute to Lance Bass ticket. Either that or my tasteless, N'Synch loving kid. Makes no difference which of them ends up stranded in orbit awaiting a painful reentry just so long as SOMEONE MAKES IT STOP! Anyone else have a buck to spare to ease my plight?
Karma: Anything remotely associated with Boy George I have no interest in.
Perhaps that's why Slashbots don't care.
What I am now wondering is how anyone found out about this, and discovered the finer details. It seems that Russia have done alot of things in secret, in the space race of the 60s for instance. The US has also had it's fair share of foul-ups (Hubble, anyone?). How often could this sort of thing be happening, and more importantly, how much is it costing?
There are many charitable places for money to go on Earth.
What makes a man want to be a mouse? (Python's Flying Circus)
This makes more sense if you read it from the bottom up
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2002
0600 GMT (1:00 a.m. EST)
International Launch Services has released the following statement:
International Launch Services regrets the failure of today's mission to put the ASTRA 1K satellite into proper orbit for SES-ASTRA.
The Proton K rocket, built by Khrunichev, lifted off on time at 4:04 a.m. today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (6:04 p.m. Monday EST, 2304 Monday GMT). All three stages of the Proton vehicle performed normally. The Block DM upper stage, built by RSC Energia, performed its first burn as planned and reached a circular parking orbit of 175.5 km (109 miles). Preliminary flight information indicates that the second burn of the Block DM upper stage did not occur as planned, and the ASTRA 1K satellite was separated into the parking orbit.
"We extend our sincerest condolences to SES-ASTRA and SES-GLOBAL for the apparent failure of the Block DM to place the ASTRA 1K satellite into the proper orbit," said ILS President Mark Albrecht. "We have a long history of success with the SES-GLOBAL family of companies -- SES was the first commercial customer on Proton. We have several missions next year with SES companies, and we are comitted to providing timely, reliable service."
The Proton K vehicle has flown 24 other missions for ILS since 1996, all with the Block DM upper stage. A mission failure in December 1997 also involved the Block DM. The Proton family -- including the upgraded Proton M with the Khrunichev-built Breeze M upper stage -- has flown 26 consecutive successful missions since February 2000.
ILS' next scheduled Proton mission employs the Proton M with the Breeze M upper stage. The Breeze M has flown successfully eight times in various configurations.
A Russian State Commission is being formed to determine the reasons for the anomaly. ILS will provide details as soon as definitive information is available for release. A copy of the official statement from Khrunichev will also be made available upon translation. In parallel with the State Commission, ILS will form its own Failure Review Oversight Board to review reasons for the anomaly and define a corrective action plan.
"ILS will continue business as usual with its Lockheed Martin-built Atlas family of launch vehicles," Albrecht said. "We will work diligently with our partners to return the Block DM to flight as soon as possible for its few remaining missions on the ILS manifest."
ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) in the United States, with Russian companies Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. ILS provides launch services on the Proton and the Atlas vehicles to customers worldwide.
0550 GMT (12:50 a.m. EST)
FAILURE. International Launch Services has announced that the second burn of the Block DM upper stage suffered an anomaly, failing to deliver the Astra 1K spacecraft into the proper orbit tonight. ILS says the craft was released from the stage into the 109-mile parking orbit. A failure commission is being formed by Russian officials. This is the second ILS Proton failure in 25 flights.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2002
2322 GMT (6:22 p.m. EST)
T+plus 18 minutes. International Launch Services says that the first Block DM burn has been completed. The stage and Astra 1K are now in another coast period that will last nearly an hour.
Highlights of events yet to come will include two more firings by the Block DM. The first is scheduled for T+plus 73 minutes, 22 seconds to raise the altitude from the current low-altitude circular parking orbit to an egg-shaped loop reaching about 22,237 miles high at one end. The rocket will coast up to that high point before the second burn at T+plus 6 hours, 14 minutes that will raise the orbit's low end and reduce inclination from the equator.
Separation of Astra 1K to complete this launch is expected around T+plus 6 hours, 36 minutes with the satellite being deployed into orbit of 2,077 miles on the low end and 22,237 miles on the high end and inclination to 26.3 degrees to the equator.
2320 GMT (6:20 p.m. EST)
T+plus 16 minutes. Thrusters on the upper stage have been firing to settle the propellants in preparation for the upcoming first burn.
2318 GMT (6:18 p.m. EST)
T+plus 14 minutes. The upper stage and satellite payload should be on a ballistic trajectory, not yet in stable orbit around Earth. The upcoming burn will put the duo into space. A majority of Proton launches don't require this "extra" burn by the upper stage. Normally the three-stage Proton is able to loft the Block DM and satellite cargo into the parking orbit. But for today's launch the extra burn is necessary to reach a 109-mile circular orbit because of the heavier weight of Astra 1K.
2316 GMT (6:16 p.m. EST)
T+plus 12 minutes. ILS says the third stage engine cut off as expected. The stage then separated from the upper stage. Ignition of the Block DM is a few minutes away.
2314 GMT (6:14 p.m. EST)
T+plus 10 minutes. The third stage burn should have been completed by now, followed by separation from the Block DM upper stage. However, no word has been received from ILS.
2312 GMT (6:12 p.m. EST)
T+plus 8 minutes. Confirmation has now been received that the second stage engines shut down, the spent stage was jettisoned and the third stage has ignited. Also, the payload fairing enclosing the Astra 1K spacecraft atop the rocket has separated.
2310 GMT (6:10 p.m. EST)
T+plus 6 minutes. Second stage separation should have occurred, followed by third stage ignition. However, ILS has stopped its live commentary to show a video. We'll provide any additional information on the actual flight performance as it becomes available.
2308 GMT (6:08 p.m. EST)
T+plus 4 minutes. Thrust chamber pressures in the second stage engines reported normal.
2307 GMT (6:07 p.m. EST)
T+plus 3 minutes. Second stage engines reported up and running normally.
2306 GMT (6:06 p.m. EST)
T+plus 2 minutes, 30 seconds. The first stage engines have shut down and the spent stage has separated. The four second stage engines have now ignited to continue the powered trek to space.
2305 GMT (6:05 p.m. EST)
T+plus 90 seconds. Just over a half-minute remaining in the first stage burn. System performance reported normal by launch officials.
2305 GMT (6:05 p.m. EST)
T+plus 60 seconds. The vehicle is now approaching the period of maximum dynamic pressure during its climb through the atmosphere. First stage systems reported steady.
2304 GMT (6:04 p.m. EST)
T+plus 30 seconds. The Proton rocket has performed its roll maneuver to achieve the proper launch heading for flight downrange. All six first stage liquid-fueled engines are up and burning. Thrust chamber pressures reported normal.
2304 GMT (6:04 p.m. EST)
LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the 25th ILS Proton rocket and the massive Astra 1K broadcasting spacecraft!
2303 GMT (6:03 p.m. EST)
T-minus 1 minute. Now 60 seconds away from launch of the Proton rocket and Astra 1K satellite. Ignition key has been activated.
The engine start command will be issued by the launch sequencer at T-minus 2.5 seconds. The six first stage engines will be ignited at T-minus 1.6 seconds and commanded to 40 percent thrust. The thrust level is increased to 107 percent at T-0.9 seconds. The liftoff confirmation is expected at T-0 seconds.
This engine start sequence allows for verification that all six powerplants are running normally before committing the Proton to launch.
2302 GMT (6:02 p.m. EST)
T-minus 2 minutes. The Block DM upper stage readiness for flight is now being verified. The motor is also switching to internal power.
2301 GMT (6:01 p.m. EST)
T-minus 3 minutes and counting. The Proton is switching to internal power.
2300 GMT (6:00 p.m. EST)
T-minus 4 minutes and counting. The enable key of the launch sequencer is being turned to the "on" position as the countdown continues to liftoff at 2304 GMT.
2259 GMT (5:59 p.m. EST)
T-minus 5 minutes and counting. At this point in the count, the firing circuits for the Proton rocket are being energized.
2255 GMT (5:55 p.m. EST)
T-minus 9 minutes and counting. The Proton rocket's first three stages -- which comprise the "core vehicle" -- are being checked for final confirmation they are ready for launch.
2252 GMT (5:52 p.m. EST)
T-minus 12 minutes and counting. The Proton rocket weighs about 1.5 million pounds as it sits on the launch pad. The Alcatel-built Astra 1K spacecraft accounts for 11,570 pounds of the weight.
At launch the Proton's six first stage engines will fire together to propel the massive, 188-foot tall rocket into the predawn sky at Baikonur. It is currently 3:52 a.m. local time at the launch site.
2244 GMT (5:44 p.m. EST)
T-minus 20 minutes and counting. Officials report all systems remain ready for an on-time launch today at 2304 GMT. And the weather conditions are within limits.
The countdown is currently under computer sequencer control, which will continue through liftoff. The final software updates to the rocket's guidance computer were recently performed.
2234 GMT (5:34 p.m. EST)
T-minus 30 minutes and counting. A Russian Proton rocket is set for blastoff in a half-hour carrying the Astra 1K broadcasting spacecraft for SES ASTRA. The three-stage Proton core vehicle and Block DM upper stage are fully fueled, a process that began about six hours before launch time. And in the past 45 minutes, the launch pad's mobile service tower was rolled away from the rocket.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2002
What's being called the largest commercial communications satellite ever built -- a powerful craft to transmit digital TV and multimedia programming across Europe -- is awaiting its ride into space today aboard a Russian-made Proton rocket.
Liftoff from pad 23 at Baikonur Cosmodrome's Complex 81 in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 2304 GMT (6:04 p.m. EST).
The mission will mark the 25th Proton to fly under the banner of International Launch Services, the Russian/American joint venture formed in 1995 by Lockheed Martin, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia to globally market Proton and U.S. Atlas rockets.
Built by Alcatel Space of France, the Astra 1K satellite tips the scales at 11,570 pounds at launch and stands 22 feet fall. Once fully deployed in orbit, the craft's power-generating solar wings will stretch 121 feet. It features 52 Ku-band transponders, two Ka-band transponders and 10 antenna reflectors and predicted 13kW end-of-life power.
Astra 1K will be used by SES ASTRA, operator of Europe's leading satellite TV broadcast system that reaches over 91 million homes across the continent. The new satellite will become the 14th in Astra fleet, which provides more than 1,100 analog and digital television and radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services to subscribers.
Plans call for Astra 1K to be parked in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator at 19.2 degrees East longitude, ASTRA's primary location. It will be ready to replace three older satellites and become an in-orbit spare for four others.
The three-stage Khrunichev Proton K rocket will propel the Energia-made Block DM upper stage and attached Astra 1K spacecraft from the desert steppes of Central Asia on a sub-orbital trajectory during the first nine-and-a-half minutes of flight.
After the Block DM separates from the Proton's spent third stage, the motor will fire for over a minute to achieve a low-altitude parking orbit above the planet at an inclination of 51.6 degrees. A majority of Proton launches don't require this "extra" burn by the upper stage. Normally the three-stage Proton is able to loft the Block DM and satellite cargo into the parking orbit. But for today's launch, the extra burn is necessary to reach a stable 109-mile circular orbit because of the heavier weight of Astra 1K.
The Block DM and Astra 1K will orbit for almost an hour before the second firing is planned, a seven-minute burn that will raise one side of the orbit to geostationary altitude of about 22,237 miles.
The duo will then coast up to the high point of the orbit where the third and final Block DM firing of the launch is planned. Ignition of the minute-and-a-half burn is expected at about T+plus 6 hours and 14 minutes, raising the orbit's low point to about 2,077 miles and lowering the orbital inclination to 26.3 degrees to the equator.
Astra 1K will be deployed from the upper stage at about T+plus 6 hours and 36 minutes. The satellite will later fire its onboard engine to circularize the orbit to geostationary altitude and reduce inclination to zero.
Watch this page for live play-by-play updates during the final countdown and launch.
Satellite fells you!
Heh heh. Have you thought about becoming a comedian?
Talk about the ultimate storage area.
The second failure in 25 launches. That's a success rate of 92%? That's also a 1 in 13 chance of failure with multi-million dollar equipment.
.. ...
T+plus 6 minutes. Second stage separation should have occurred, followed by third stage ignition. However, ILS has stopped its live commentary to show a video. We'll provide any additional information on the actual flight performance as it becomes available.
Problems started here maybe?
T+plus 8 minutes. Confirmation has now been received that the second stage engines shut down, the spent stage was jettisoned and the third stage has ignited. Also, the payload fairing enclosing the Astra 1K spacecraft atop the rocket has separated.
seems ok...
T+plus 10 minutes. The third stage burn should have been completed by now, followed by separation from the Block DM upper stage. However, no word has been received from ILS.
Looks like ILS noticed trouble brewing here and were trying to redeem the situation...
FAILURE. International Launch Services has announced that the second burn of the Block DM upper stage suffered an anomaly, failing to deliver the Astra 1K spacecraft into the proper orbit tonight.
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
You can't even send a satelite to its orbit, and you're telling me that we landed on the thing called "moon"?!
Oh oh... is the EULA considered Space Junk?
This really is a job for Salvage 1 !
... But then again they're insured..
Might it not be cheaper to try and rescue it with a Russian or American shuttle mission rather than build a new one?? Surely they can pull that sucker up from low orbit with the shuttle?
LOL
:)
We should just take all the nay-sayers and throw them off the edge of the earth.
The Flat Earth Society would gladly provide help. They are as anxious as we are to get rid of the crackpots
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
You see, it goes like this: Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. You may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.
it sure seems you haven't
"The majority is always sane, Louis." -- Nessus
http://slashdot.jp
In America Benjamin Franklin once said:
"Those who would trade essential liberty for japanese cartoons deserve neither."
That is all i have to say.
I don't know why /. or whoever wrote that story didn't feel like mentioning that this story was old the min it came on /. IIS crew is going to haul the satellite back into space, it's showing right now on NASA TV. And btw. they had a crew change, and it was not mentioned on /. They would be working in teeams of Two, each 6 hours (so 12 hours for each person, with 6 hours of sleep). A new shuttle mission has been scheduled which would take two of the astronauts from the IIS and go hunt this satellite. Come on ppl, this is in the NASA bullitins right now.
These are applicable statistics taken from: faa.gov
Table 5. Lifetime Vehicle Reliability Rates
Vehicle-----Launch Attempts----Reliability
Atlas 1 & 2------49---------------95.9%
Delta 2----------73---------------98.6%
Delta 3-----------1----------------0.0%
Ariane 4---------81---------------96.3%
Ariane 5----------2---------------50.0%
Proton----------254---------------89.4%
Soyuz-----------958---------------99.3%
Long March-------54---------------90.7%
(Source: STAR Database, October 14, 1998)
?sp
And if you don't return it I'll blow up the satelite; I swear!
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Does anyone think there's a chance to recue this mission with the next several US shuttle launches in exchange for a mostly ready-made comms platform aboard the International Space Station? If yes, why? If no, why not? This could be a very valuable contribution to the ISS from the USSR, given their current difficulties otherwise, IMHO.
C|N>K
"Both the satellite and the booster will after a while fall back to Earth. Both will burn with maybe small bits reaching the Earth's surface, depending on what materials the satellite was made of," Kreidenko said. "But there is no danger."
This guy Kreidenko doesn't even know what the ingredients are and says there's no danger. I wonder if he'll feel the same way when the nuclear reactor lands in his front yard and makes a big brown spot in his lawn.
"It is essential that justice be done
More seriously, I am a friend and a neighbor of someone involved in this project. He is not back from Baikonur yet because the bloody French air traffic controllers are striking once again, but what I heard though his wife, he does not feel too good--six years of work down the drain just like that...
That you better think twice before plopping down 20 mil for passage up to the space station.
A Russian State Commission is being formed to determine the reasons for the anomaly.
If there's one thing the United States taught Russia right about our form of democracy, it's bureaucracy...
Terminal velocity for whatever debris is leftover will not be that fast.. the odds of you being hit by it are extremely low.. the odds of you being seriously hurt if you were are even lower.
Burn out or OD?
Hey, the Stones are still around putting out their crappy brand of bluesy-rock.
The rest would eventually fall back to Earth.
I will never live for sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
I'd like to see you do any better!
;-)
(old schoolyard retort that still makes no sense to me)
I keep reading that the projected failure rate, where failure==boom, for the space shuttle is one in 300. It some ways that's a low failure rate, in others a disturbing one. I don't have the math here, but what are the odds of going ten years without an accident?
The fairly successful but brief Apollo program had one lethal ground accident (#1) and one near inflight catastrophe (#13). That's still fewer than the half the deaths of Challenger.
Now, I know some smartass is going to tell me how much safer it is per mile to take a rocket to the Moon than to drive your car there.
I don't care for the stones, but atleast they know how to play instruments. I count nsync maturbating as instruments.
I'm interested in the statistical projections for shuttle failures. The figure I've heard for catastrophic failure -- loss of vehicle and crew -- is around 1-in-300. Of course, lesser but nonetheless dramatic failures of the Apollo 13 sort are also a possibility. Finally, the shuttle fleet is getting old, and being a reusable craft the duty cycles might bring unpleasant surprises. Here's a recent article that made the rounds. (note the silver lining noted by the welder :)
If/when there is a failure, will the statisticians go, "Yup, that's about what we expected?" If the shuttle beats or falls short of its reliability prediction, does that make it a good or bad craft? I'm talking about perceptions here, not objectivity. It's a lot easier to be sober about failures of unmanned rockets.
It looks like we'll be talking seriously about what's going to replace the shuttle in just a few years. This could be good or bad for reliability -- while we've learned a lot, we have to admire the track record of the boring old Soyuz.
Someone start modding this guy up hes funny as hell.
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
Seems like the problem is that they built a satellite too large to have any reasonable launch options. Or they could've gone to NASA and got one those Baaaadaaaaas Titan IV lifters. Probably would have cost more. Probably would be in orbit too.
Either you get smaller satellites and go to the Chinese, the French, heck even the Israelis to launch it or you go NASA.
Bizarre... our sigs... dude.... whoah
Burma?
I know a real Russian and hes an anal-retentive asshole. If he was in charge of the space launch nothing would have gone wrong.
Anyone know if they will try to save this thing?
If not, how long will it maintain this orbit before reentry?
If there will be a reentry, I wonder how long before the trajectory projections are made...
I gave myself to Jesus, but now he never calls
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item= 1791768367
Is my pen cyberspace junk too because it is on eBay now?
Shame about that satelite. I guess Proton rockets from 1965 aren't the best thing to be using now. Classic cars are cool, but classic rockets are scary.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
1) The space shuttle fleet is fully booked for the foreseeable future, mostly on space station stuff.
2) It takes a lot of time to plan missions like you have proposed. The closest comparison would be the Hubble or SMM rescue missions. Spacewalkers would have to be deployed to attach a new upper stage. No provisions were made in the satellite design for such an operation, so they would have to invent ad hoc procedures. It may not even be possible at all. In the interim, the satellite would deorbit.
3) It would probably be so mindbogglingly dangerous and complicated that NASA would have a collective heart attack if you even suggested it to them.
4) It's not economical. The space shuttle costs in the region of $400 million per mission, with no guarantee that the rescue would be successful, due to the unprecedented difficulty of the operation.
New Scientist publishes a great news service for this sort of thing -- this earlier article discusses some additional dimensions of the accident and the possibility of rescue.
1) Where would they put it? How would they attach it?
2) The satellite was designed for broadcast from geostationary orbit. The ISS wizzes around the Earth every 90 minutes or so. How would they point it? At what?
3) The bandwidth would be way, way more than could conceivably be used at the ISS for the foreseeable future (especially in the pissy "core complete" configuration). It would be a better idea to boost it to its intended orbit. See above for why that ain't happening.
Nice idea, but space doesn't quite work that way.
Look up the Archimedes quote. According to two different references I have, the quote is, "Give me a place to stand and I will move the world." There's NO explicit mention of a lever.
Kreidenko said a secondary booster, which was due to propel the satellite to a higher altitude, had malfunctioned and was circling the earth separately from its payload.
This is a very funny way of saying, "the damn booster just broke off and flew away on its own."
Here's the article (I'm Karma whoring):
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia has failed to put a five-tonne European communications satellite properly into orbit and it will now circle uselessly until it eventually falls back to Earth, space officials said.
Konstantin Kreidenko, spokesman for Russia's space authority Rosaviakosmos, told Reuters the Astra-1K satellite was stuck in an intermediate orbit after being launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The French-made Astra satellite is the world's biggest communications satellite, with antennae spanning 37 metres. It was due to be used for radio and television broadcasts as well as for mobile telephone and Internet services in western Europe.
"The satellite has not reached its assigned orbit and will now never reach it," Kreidenko said.
Kreidenko said a secondary booster, which was due to propel the satellite to a higher altitude, had malfunctioned and was circling the earth separately from its payload.
The Astra satellite, launched by a Proton rocket, was now doomed to orbit the earth until gravity pulled it back to Earth, he said.
"Both the satellite and the booster will after a while fall back to Earth. Both will burn with maybe small bits reaching the Earth's surface, depending on what materials the satellite was made of," Kreidenko said. "But there is no danger."
In October, a Soyuz cargo rocket, carrying a European satellite, exploded on lift-off from Russia's Arctic Plesetsk launch pad. Two days later a Proton rocket successfully blasted a European research laboratory into orbit from Baikonur.
Proton was conceived in the 1960s initially as a heavy-lift rocket to carry bombs.
Russia leases the Soviet-era Baikonur cosmodrome from Kazakhstan, keeping it as its main space base.
Jeremy Logan's Website.
With Iridium it is much cheaper to call phone-phone. Landline LD to an Iridium phone is abour $10/min. whereas Iridium to Iridium is about $1/min.
;)
With 10-10-220, you could talk up to 20 minutes, anywhere in the U.S. and to Canada for just 99. I'm sure Iridium serve some purpose, but not for city slickers.
That's what they call a malfunction? I imagine it's a pretty big deal that the booster stay attached to function properly. Sounds like someone forgot to use something better than velcro to attach the two.
About a year ago a European satellite had a partial booster failure, but eventually made it into the proper orbit anyhow because it had an ion engine that was powered via the solar panels.
Although not fast enough to be the primary final booster (may take years to get to right orbit), it can be a nice backup booster.
I wonder why they did not do that for this one? I suppose they figured the cost of the ion engine and related weight was greater than the projected risk of failure.
Table-ized A.I.
There's no use in having a comm satellite designed for geosynchronous orbit as a lawn ornament on the ISS.
A possible rescue mission would be to capture it with the space shuttle, attach a booster and transfer it to its intended orbit and orbital slot. I doubt it will be cost-effective, though.
BTW, it was insured.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Watch this page for live play-by-play updates during the final countdown and launch.
Bugger.
NASA has a shuttle at the International Space Station presently- Is there *no* way that it could somehow be used to catch up with the satellite, and pull it up to its correct orbit? It seems at least *feasible* to me, even though I know very little about space...
If somebody else went up and fixed it, who would own the satellite?
An engineer who ran for Congress. http://herbrobinson.us
Proton has been used to reach a parking orbit before. Afterwards, Block has been used successfully boost into final orbit.
Apparently, this was the first time the Block, too, was needed to reach the parking orbit, because the satellite is so heavy. I wonder whether the insurers had figured this out and set the premium accordingly.
Anyway, it seems like the Block got confused about its new role. Software testing?
Consider the tanker that went down off the coast of Spain. When that sucker sprang a leak, they hired salvors to try and save the ship and the cargo (this was before Spain and Portugal told them to get lost, whereupon they sunk in choppy seas.) Assuming that we had infrastructure in space, could we apply a similar idea and have space salvors recovering satellites? That would seem to me a better idea than keeping a 3 man crew in orbit on taxpayer dollars just to maintain the ISS, and the insurance company that insures the satellite would probably pony up a few mil just so they could avoid paying out on that particular policy.
Eutelsat are launching Hotbird 7 (13e) on the 28th, so maybe things will be ok this time because they're using Ariane 5 instead of a Proton, oh shit.
As for Astra 19.2e, they're pretty fucked, the birds 1K was meant to replace date from 1991-94 and Astra 1A which launched in 1988 died in ~2002, so draw your own conclusions.
According to the Moscow Times: "Kreidenko said in a telephone interview that a glitch in the software that controls the DM-3 may have caused the failure."
Well, at least the russians don't get inches mixed up with centimeters like *some* space agencies have been known to...
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
My first thought was "that's an interesting new twist on the term 'performed normally'", but it's actually four stages, right? The three-stage Proton plus the Block DM upper stage?
Brandishing Dangerous Logic
Take a look here to take a look at how many satellites there are in the near-Earth environment.
BTW, does anyone have a similar link to a site showing space junk?
- rotwhylr
-- Windows is not simply installed on a computer; it is inflicted.
From The Toronto Star: Tuesday's failed launch followed an accident on Oct. 15, when a Russian unmanned Soyuz-U rocket blew up half a minute after liftoff. Space officials said later that an alien object was found in the rocket's fuel line.
;-)
Apparently, the Star, while reporting on this story, has let the cat out of the bag about a previous incident. I tried to submit it earlier yesterday but I guess it looked a little shrill. Not so hysterical now huh
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Will the person who has taken the big red stapler from DTF 1st mail room - KINDLY RETURN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE please. tks dh
As this was the last satellite scheduled for some time (demand for transponders is down due to economic slowdown, and due to TV stations going digital, and thus needing less bandwidth), the people working in satellite procurement were the next on the list. Now, with the crash, their jobs seem to be secure...
How about using the Space Shuttle to capture
and place it in the proper orbit?
Michael
When you stop and think about failures like this, it's not surprising. What I mean is: less than a million years ago humans were still trying to figure out how to cook food. Silly humans, you.... err... I mean, WE... *ahem* ...these aren't the aliens you are look for. You can go about your business. Move along.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
However, Hughes, the company who built the satellite then figure out a way to use some of the station keeping fuel and gravity assist from the Moon to kick it into a geostationary orbit. The downside of this is a shorter operational lifetime as the station keeping fuel is what keeps the satellite at the equator and not wandering North-South on a 12 hour cycle.
A reference to this can be found on the Satellite Toolkit (STK) website http://www.stk.com/press/display.cfm?id=24
D.
What kind of nuclear fuel leaves a "big brown spot" when it hits the ground(or a fan)?! :X
Actually the closest comparison would be endevour's reboosting od INTELSAT VI dusirng STS-49
Some people on earth use periods instead of commas, you fucking tool. Why dont you check out the localization settings in your OS. I am asuming it's some piece of shit Microsoft product.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
satelite is operational and they managed to bring it to higher orbit. from 180km to 300km and they going to bring it up to 600km source is here http://www.cosmoworld.ru/spaceencyclopedia/hotnews /index.shtml
learn your mama's language :)
all this crap of blaming Russian space programms simply vestige of cold war.
grow up!
Check the website
www.orbitalrecovery.com
We are working now with the insurers of the satellite to see if we can put together a mission to save the satellite.
Dennis Wingo
CTO
Orbital Recovery
Astra 1K was de-orbited after it was decided that a recovery operation was not possible.
An office party is not, as is sometimes supposed the Managing Director's
chance to kiss the tea-girl. It is the tea-girl's chance to kiss the
Managing Director (however bizarre an ambition this may seem to anyone
who has seen the Managing Director face on).
-- Katherine Whitehorn, "Roundabout"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...
It is a call to arms! Don your tinfoil hats and prepare for the incoming shrapnel!! Starting Mass Panic is fun!