Rogue Satellite Shuts Down US Weather Services

radioweather writes "On Sunday, the drifting rogue 'zombie' Galaxy 15 satellite with a stuck transmitter interfered with the satellite data distribution system used by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), effectively shutting down data sharing between NWS offices nationwide, as well as weather support groups for the US Air force. This left many forecasters without data, imagery, and maps. Interference from Galaxy 15 affected transmissions of the SES-1 Satellite, which not only serves NOAA with data relay services, but also is used to feed TV programming into virtually every cable network in the US. NOAA's Network Control Facility reports that the computer system affected was NOAA's Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) used to issue forecasts and weather bulletins which uses the weather data feed. They also state the problem is likely to recur again this month before the satellite drifts out of range and eventually dies due to battery depletion."

Comments

What's with the "editing" today?

[texwtf]

Rouge satellites?

Are the slashdot editors drunk? This is only the latest of several simple grammatical and spelling errors in the summaries today.

Re:Why not use the X-37B

[onkelonkel]

The X-37B operates in low earth orbit about 200 miles up. The satellite is in Geosynchronous orbit at about 22,000 miles up. How do you get the X-37B to where the satellite is?