U.S. military communications satellite fails to reach intended orbit

Reuters ^ | 2 Aug 2016 | Irene Klotz

[Purdue77]

A propulsion system problem has left a U.S. military communications satellite short of its intended orbit, leaving a key communications network over the Middle East, Africa and Asia without a spare, officials said on Tuesday.

[Purdue77]

Oops -- hate it when this happens.

[blam]

AA employees?

I worry about the bridges too these days.

[Sacajaweau]

Maybe not put this out to the public? Never mind...that would be common sense

[Steely Tom]

Maybe not put this out to the public?

Opsec be racist.

[Purdue77]

For those of you who are concerned about opsec, general information about this satellite is unclassified. The fact that it is now not where it should be is also known as even amateurs can track that it didn’t get to its intended orbit.
“Amateur observers tracked it in a ~15240 x 35700 km orbit since 3 July 2016.”

[Little Pig]

Has anyone looked at the orbit? Maybe this is an “intentional” mistake. It wouldn’t be the first time they “accidentally” put a satellite into a different orbit so it would end up passing over a certain place.

[MGG]

Damn Russian engines.

[Purdue77]

I seriously don’t believe that it was “left” in this orbit. I suspect that it is now in an inclined orbit of 28 degrees which, if so, doesn’t allow it to go over much of the earth.

[mabarker1]

And if true we have no Shuttle to fix it.

[Cboldt]

Shuttle couldn’t reach it anyway. Shuttle max altitude is less than 2000 km, and this satellite orbit goes no lower than 10,000 km.

[Purdue77]

Chances are that you aren't going to fix it even with a shuttle for a number of reasons.

1. It wasn't designed to be fixed.

2. It is in too high of an orbit for the shuttle to reach.

and, 3. While I haven't run the numbers, the speed differential may be too large to make the capture safely.

[Campion]

The Russian engines worked fine

[Magnum44]

I suspect that it is now in an inclined orbit of 28 degrees which, if so, doesn’t allow it to go over much of the earth.

Uh...no. If you would like a good orbit mechanics reference I can provide you with one. :)

[Purdue77]

Oh no what. The launch site is at 28 degrees north latitude. If the launch vehicle didn’t maneuver, then the orbit should be inclined at ~28 degrees.

[Magnum44]

I was referring to your comment that it would not go over much of the Earth. It will go over the same amount of Earth as if it were in any other orbit. Anyway, no offense was intended.

[Moonman62]

It would be cool if SpaceX could use one of their recovered first stages to launch some kind of propulsion module. Probably not an option, though.

[Purdue77]

Don't know the specs on the SpaceX boosters. But, once again, the satellite wasn't designed for on-orbit repair and trying to catch the satellite and attached a propulsion module to the correct location on the satellite is a tricky proposition. One that would require a specially built module and one that "probably" doesn't exist. I put probably in quotes since I don't have access to the manufacturers' advanced design centers.

Also, it would probably be cheaper to build and launch a replacement satellite.

[Moonman62]

Also, it would probably be cheaper to build and launch a replacement satellite.

...

A smart FReeper once said that was the case with the Hubble space telescope.

One good thing about the SpaceX recovered stages is a rocket launch using one would be dirt cheap compared to other launch services.

[Purdue77]

No offense taken, but I don't understand your comment. Below is a picture of the orbit track of the ISS. The orbit does not go any higher than ~52 degrees which is the inclination. Looking nadir, it won't see anything above the 52 degrees. It will only fly over the earth between +52 degrees (N) and - 52 degrees (S). Or am I wrong? Lower the 52 degrees to 28 degrees and a satellite will cover even less of the earth.

[Purdue77]

The difference with Hubble though is that it was designed from the start to be captured by the shuttle and repaired on-orbit. MUOS 5 wasn't. So, how do you repair a broken satellite that wasn't designed for on-orbit repair? In this case, you might want to have something that could retrieve it and bring it back to earth for repair, preferably unmanned.

Think of this though. If we had something that could retrieve and return payloads from space, the Chinese and others would be claiming that we had a space weapon.