Zombie Satellite Causes Astronomical Buzz

Yahoo ^ | 5-11-10 | Claudine Zap

[Vaquero]

Don't be alarmed. High above your heads, a zombie satellite is on the loose. OK, actually, it won't really be a bother to us earthlings. Or at least to most of us. (More on that later.) But the rogue communications satellite is wreaking havoc in Earth's orbit and does threaten to interfere with signals coming from other satellites. Here's the backstory...

[Jonah Hex]

[gilor]

Galaxy 15 started to become unresponsive and Galaxy 12 was moved to it’s orbital position and the workload was transfered on 4-18-10. G15 will burn up nicely.

[raybbr]

I almost added solar wind to the list but honestly I can’t envision it having enough energy to shift the orbit of a satellite.

[Lucky Dog]

The effect is, in deed, typically very small. Nonetheless, it is present and the surface area exposed and length of time for exposure are factors.

Added to other potential factors it can have a cumulative influence especially in possible, synergistic combination with magnetic or gravity anomalies (e.g., small unobserved asteroid) and other unplanned events, e.g. propellent tank leak, etc.

The point was that there are a number of potential sources, either singly, or in combination, that can account for orbital drift.

[Tallguy]

When you burn your finger, does your foot still work?

When you stick your cat in the microwave does it just 'limp a bit' on exiting? Solar flares are not usually selective in their affects. Now it may happen that the comm gear is 'hardened' to a greater degree against radiation, but nobody has suggested that this is the case.

[Tallguy]

Thanks, Moonman. That’s the kind of stuff I was looking for. I wasn’t sure that solar ‘pressure’ would have a measurable affect. I hadn’t even considered and tendency for a change in orbital inclination. Fascinating stuff.

[CholeraJoe]

Zombie ping!

[Tallguy]

Thanks, LD. It’s the difference between ‘ideal’ & ‘real world’ physics. IOW’s all the stuff that we neglect in our High School physics equations are coming into play in with measurable affects.

Hadn’t considered a lot of this stuff, but I can see how the drift can be rather large over time.

[Captain Beyond]

bflr

[G Larry]

Nobody suggested the flare was selective, but I certainly was suggesting that not all parts have the same vulnerabiities.

[Tallguy]

I thought that you were just having some fun with me, and I just gave it back a little!

[RandallFlagg]

Thanks for the ping, CholeraJoe.

[too_cool_for_skool]

Only satellites in low earth orbit (~500 mi up) get affected and slowly dragged down into the atmosphere, burning up. G15 is in geostationary orbit - 22,000 mi up. Long ways down from there - that sucker will orbit the Earth until the end of time.

The big issue is that the satellite still has its transponders on full blast and pointed at the Earth. This will jam ground terminals that are linked to satellites adjacent to G15.

[gilor]

I just read that by the end of May G15 might interfer with AMC11. They are going to try and blast it again and hopefully force a shutdaown (not likely).