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Astra 1K Communications Satellite now Space Junk

Posted by michael on from the watch-out-below dept.

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."

3 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Iridium by jfroot · · Score: 5, Informative

    Iridium is alive.. in fact I have an Iridium sat phone (Motorola 9505) sitting on my desk right now that I use to call our people who are away on ops. 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.

  2. Lifetime Launch Vehicle Reliability by Rareul · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

  3. Re:Cheaper? by Dunark · · Score: 5, Informative

    The shuttle can't reach geosynchronous orbit, which is where the satellite is supposed to be.