Geostationary GPS Satellite Galaxy 15 Out of Control

Bruce Perens writes "The Galaxy 15 commercial satellite has not responded to commands since solar flares fried its CPU in April, and it won't turn off. Intelsat controllers moved all commercial payloads to other birds except for WAAS, a system that adds accuracy to GPS for landing aircraft and finding wayward geocaches. Since the satellite runs in 'bent pipe' mode, amplifying wide bands of RF that are beamed up to it, it is likely to interfere with other satellites as it crosses their orbital slots on its way to an earth-sun Lagrange point, the natural final destination of a geostationary satellite without maneuvering power." (More below.) Bruce continues: "The only payload that is still deliberately active on the satellite is its WAAS repeater. An attempt to overload the satellite and shut it down on May 3 caused a Notice to Airmen regarding the unavailability of WAAS for an hour. Unsaid is what will happen to WAAS, and for how long, when the satellite eventually loses its sun-pointing capability, expected later this year, and stops repeating the GPS correction signal. Other satellites can be moved into Galaxy 15's orbital slot, but it is yet unannounced whether the candidates bear the WAAS payload."

Comments

Bastard

[oldhack]

Nuke the rogue satellite in the orbit.

Re:Bastard

[JWSmythe]

    That shouldn't be very hard. You do know what the unofficial government payload is on those satellites, right? Titanium cased nukes. The launch is easy. Just aim and give it a little shove. Then it detonates at the appropriate altitude. It's so much more efficient to already have your nukes up there, than to have to launch them from the surface and wait for them to come back down.

    You really don't want to just pop one in orbit though. It'll leave one heck of a mess up there. It's not just debris, it's radioactive debris.

Target practice?

[Joce640k]

Haven't the military got some super satellite-busting weapon they've been dying to test?

Re:Target practice?

[Khyber]

"epileptic orbit"

I'd love to see an orbit do that!

Re:Target practice?

[sznupi]

I don't know, personally I shudder to see something like that.

Re:Target practice?

[Thaddeaus]

Slashdot?



(I kid, I kid)

The only way

[Evelas]

but it's the only way to be sure!

I know I've made some very poor decisions recently

[MRe_nl]

After sending between 150,000 and 200,000 commands to the satellite to coax it back into service, Intelsat was forced to scrap its satellite-recovery efforts and to resort, on Monday, to a limited-duration effort to force the satellite to shut down its transponders. This was to be accomplished by sending a stronger series of signals designed to cause Galaxy 15's power system to malfunction and force a shutdown of the satellite's payload. That attempt, which Luxembourg-based, Washington-headquartered Intelsat had viewed as its last, best-understood option for Galaxy 15, was unsuccessful.
The last message from the satellite was "I'm sorry, Intelsat. I'm afraid I can't do that."

Re:Not Sun-Earth Lagrange points

[snowgirl]

It should be mentioned that the stable libration points for geostationary satellites are earth-relative (105 deg west, 75 deg east) and are not the same as the Sun-Earth lagrange points (such as those occupied by SOHO and other observation satellites).

Forgive my ignorance in these highly technical matters, but when exactly did we start sending up Small Or Home Office satellites?

I always wondered what that particular SOHO meant. Drove me nuts because I heard of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory first.

Re:Where'd my cable channels go?

[Anonymous Coward]

no thats just comcast service as usual.

Re:Not necessarily...

[shoehornjob]

cellular-based pagers

PAGERS???? What the hell is a pager?

Interference

[Arancaytar]

Reminded me of this gem from NotAlwaysRight:

Customer: “I will have you know, son, I am a Gunnery Sergeant. I’ve worked with Hand Operated Radios for years and I’m telling you RIGHT NOWthere is someone standing next to your satellite with a d*** radio and it’s interfering with my signal. I demand you to get out there and tell them to stop.”

Me: “Far be it from me to ever argue with my clients, but I will have to at this time. I understand that you’re a Gunny Sergeant and that you’ve operated HAM radios for years, but I know my satellite equipment, and it’s not possible for someone to be standing next to my satellite with a radio.”

Customer: “Oh? Really, smart man? Why is that?”

Me: “Because our satellites are in outer space."

Apparently, it is possible for someone to be standing next to your satellite and cause interference, as long as the someone is another satellite. (But it isn't easy to tell them to stop... :P )

A funnel

[falken0905]

Perhaps they can launch and rendezvous a 100 ton steel 'funnel' and fit it over the satellite thus preventing it from spewing tons of satellite pollution toward earth. In fact, such a device has already been built and is currently not being used. Bonus, it's currently located not all that far from Cape Canaveral and transport ships are located nearby.

Re:A funnel

[glwtta]

Thank you for the detailed explanation of why we can't fix a malfunctioning satellite by capping it with a 100 ton steel funnel.

Re:I know I've made some very poor decisions recen

[Dragoniz3r]

You underestimate the power of sudo.

Re:Where'd my cable channels go?

[fustakrakich]

Are you kidding? Imagine this happening during the last episode of Lost.. It would make the Rodney King riots look like a day at the beach...

Re:Double Bastard

[MobyDisk]

Duhh, nuke the debris with a second one. ;-)

Re:Light pressure

[frieko]

Heh, you're wrong AND you're an asshole. Good job.

Re:Not necessarily...

[Hognoxious]

It's a thing people used to wear on their belts after onions went out of fashion.

Re:Where'd my cable channels go?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless this is PART of the last episode of Lost...MAN they're good!