Lost Eutelsat craft stabilised
March 8, 2024
On February 2nd, Eutelsat’s 113 West A LatAm satellite unexpectedly suffered an orbital malfunction which left it tumbling uncontrolled in space. Eutelsat promptly shifted its clients to near-by satellites.
Reports from ground-based observers said that the satellite has been at least stabilised, and is no longer tumbling. “It appears that the attitude control is at least partially working again,” says s2a systems.
Eutelsat has confirmed that they are in the process of verifying the individual satellite subsystem health status to assess the causes of the original anomaly. A deorbit plan will then follow which suggests that the satellite has now reached its end of life.
Swiss-based s2a systems performs optical observations of individual objects and entire constellations in all orbits, from LEO over MEO to GEO.
The satellite came into Eutelsat’s ownership when the Paris-based operator bought the SatMex assets (Satélites Mexicanos, where the satellite was named SatMex 6) in 2014 for $831 million plus SatMex debt in a transaction worth in total $1.14 billion.
“Mitigation actions are underway to minimize the disruption to customers impacted, including accelerated transfer to alternative capacity on our satellites located at the 114.9° and 116.8° West positions,” said Eutelsat on February 3rd.
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