Posted on 11/17/2008 5:12:16 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Nigeria's Chinese-built satellite goes dark
By Peter J Brown
In May 2007, the Nigerian government rejoiced as the Chinese-built Nigeria Communications Satellite - 1 (NIGCOMSAT-1), was sent into orbit by a Chinese rocket at the Xichang launch facility. Nigeria was upbeat and looking forward to 15 years of advanced telecommunications service, thanks to a satellite which China, along with sending into space, had funded to the tune of well over $200 million.
But in early November, after NIGCOMSAT-1 had been in service for only 18 months, all the dreams were dashed. NIGCOMSAT-1 went out of service completely with its onboard electrical power supply damaged significantly due to a malfunctioning solar array. Rumors flew that it was almost completely out of control and perhaps a threat to nearby satellites. These were addressed by Nigerian and later Chinese officials, but only after a day had passed, and after that only a series of denials were issued.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
Still there.
Dairy Dan
6950 N. Wayne Rd., Westland, MI, 48185
(734) 595-0203
More here
http://www.satmagazine.com/cgi-bin/display_article.cgi?number=46826941
and here
http://www.nigcomsat.com/
was the bird lost to bad hardware, or poor operation pratices? THe posted article isn’t clear.....
Tens of thousands of Nigerian princes will be forced to go back to dial-up to do business.
We used to own the one on Wayne road sold it in 1999. We had a good run. Had a real good friend on the Westland Police Force.
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