ESA Satellite Recovers: Total Loss To Geostationary

Slimbob writes "About 2 years ago an Ariane 5 rocket malfunctioned and left a very expensive Artemis satellite in an unusable orbit. Well, over the course of 18 months, the European Space Agency actually managed to push the satellite into a usable orbit using measly 15mN ion thrusters! They managed the feat by reprogramming about 20% of the original control software and uplinking the patches to the satellite! See the ESA press release . Achievements include the first first major reprogramming of a telecommunications satellite, the first orbital transfer to geostationary orbit using ion propulsion, and the longest ever operational drift orbit."

Comments

This isn't the first innovative satellite recovery

[Sierran]

A few years ago, Hughes Communications engineers used a lunar orbital slingshot maneuver to recover AsiaSat 1, which had been stranded in an unusable orbit. The insurance consortium that had already paid out for the satellite accepted a salvage deal with Hughes, who had manufactured it in the first place (it was launched on a Proton out of Baikonur). While they were using the designed maneuvering engines, as opposed to the stationkeeping thrusters, they ended up sending the satellite completely out of cislunar space in order to make the save.

Reference: Flug-Revue

Re:Don't understand their error rate calculations

[Merlin42]

I think that instead of 109 it should have read 10 to the 9 or 10^9 ... now it makes perfect sense.

Re:Fuel

[Simon Field]

The article makes a distinction between the Xenon ion thrusters and "chemical propellant". The last orbital adjustments were made with "small chemical propellant thrusters, activated for the first time since launch".

It looks like the 10 years number does not refer to the Xenon ion thrusters.

Re:"15mN ion thrusters"

[MrPeach]

It's not the size of the thrusters, it's the length of it's operation!

Expect more ions in the future

[TheSHAD0W]

The results of this botched lofting actually bode well for future satellite installations. Admittedly, using ion thrusters for final delivery would take much longer than using standard rocket technology, but it would also be enormously less expensive. The weight savings would be large, at a stage where weight is the most expensive part of the flight.