Did fuckin’ Samsung build it, or something?!
DirecTV now has one month to move one of their satellites out of its current geostationary orbit, due to a risk of its battery exploding. Which would be a problem, because that orbit just so happens to be in the same location as all the other major telecom satellites. And since explosions in space tend to send destructive debris everywhere, well, you can guess why it’d be a problem.
The Spaceway-1 satellite, a Boeing 702HP model, began experiencing battery issues in December 2019. Per a statement made, an anomaly caused the issues to manifest, causing significant thermal damage to the batteries. Notably, they will be required to move the satellite 300 kilometers above stationary orbit in what is, essentially, a satellite graveyard. Notably, they’ve made a motion to avoid having to dump the satellite’s remaining fuel as is considered normal practice for decommissioning a satellite. This is due to the fact that their Spaceway-1 satellite was meant to remain in orbit until 2025, and it would take them far longer to dump the fuel safely than they have to get it out of orbit.
Their statement on the issue:
The risk of a catastrophic battery failure makes it urgent that Spaceway-1 be fully de-orbited and decommissioned prior to the February 25th start of eclipse season.
Waiver is appropriate in this case because grant would not undermine the purpose of the rule, which is to reduce the risk of accidental explosion. Under normal de-orbit procedures, Spaceway-1 would complete its end-of-life maneuvers and then discharge all remaining bipropellant prior to decommissioning the spacecraft. The procedure from the manufacturer limits the effective rate at which bipropellant can be vented to ensure builtup momentum is unloaded before subsequent operations occur. Other spacecraft of similar design have required two to three months of continuous operations to fully deplete their bipropellant systems. However, given the anomaly to the battery pack and the impending spring eclipse season, DIRECTV does not have sufficient time to fully deplete the remaining bipropellant reserves before Spaceway-1 reaches its disposal orbit.
If you’re a DirecTV customer, though, you needn’t worry about your service. Spaceway-1 was a backup satellite, in case of exactly this sort of problem happening to one of their primaries.
Source: Engadget
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