The orbital debris/failed satellite thread

[DocM]

May as well start an orbital debris/failed satellite thread given recent events; Breeze-M and others.

 

http://spacenews.com/japanese-astronomy-satellite-malfunctions-generates-debris/

 

WASHINGTON — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is working to restore communications with a new astronomy satellite that malfunctioned March 26, generating debris.

 

In a March 27 statement, JAXA said it lost communications with the Hitomi satellite at 3:40 a.m. Eastern March 26. “Up to now, JAXA has not been able to figure out the state of health of the satellite,” the agency said in the statement.

 

“We are still trying to recover communication with ‘Hitomi’, and trying to find out the status and causes of this communication failure,” JAXA said in a tweet early March 28, the latest update provided by the agency on the status of recovery efforts.

 

That loss of communications coincided with the detection of debris in the vicinity of the spacecraft. The U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Space Operations Center, or JSpOC, said March 27 it was tracking five pieces of debris associated with Hitomi created at about 4:20 a.m. Eastern March 26.

 

While JSpOC classified this event as a “breakup,” the satellite appears to still be mostly intact, although damaged. JAXA noted that it “received short signals from Hitomi” after the time JSpOC reported for the breakup, but did not indicate exactly when it received the signals or any information they provided about the status of the spacecraft.

 

Amateur satellite observers, observing Hitomi from the ground, reported on a mailing list late March 27 seeing flashes from the satellite with a period of 5 to 10 seconds. Those flashes suggest that the spacecraft, which is normally three-axis stabilized, is spinning.

 

Neither JAXA nor JSpOC have speculated on the cause of the malfunction and breakup, which could be due to either a technical problem with the satellite itself or a collision with a micrometeorite or piece of orbital debris.

 

JAXA launched Hitomi, originally known as Astro-H, on an H-2A rocket Feb. 17. The 2,700-kilogram satellite carries several instruments to perform x-ray astronomy observations. Some of the spacecraft’s instruments were provided by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The spacecraft was in the middle of a three-month checkout and instrument calibration phase when the malfunction took place.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Good idea. We have had a few mishaps and it seems better to place them here, than in multiple threads all over the place.

 

As a note for debris and object tracking...

 

Lockheed Martin opens Space Fence test site in New Jersey

 

Lockheed Martin has built a scaled-down version of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation space surveillance system in New Jersey. Credit: Lockheed Martin.

 

Quote

WASHINGTON – Lockheed Martin has built a scaled-down version of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation space surveillance system in New Jersey as a way to test hardware and software for the Space Fence, the company announced March 28.

 

Lockheed Martin won a $914 million contract in June 2014 to build the Space Fence, an S-band radar which will be capable of tracking about five times as many objects — including much smaller objects — than current U.S. space surveillance assets can track. Lockheed will be installing the full-scale Space Fence radar on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

 

“The main objective is to reduce risk of discovering something unexpected in the Marshall Islands – especially because we will be integrating a new radar system on a massive scale,” said Bruce Schafhauser, director of Lockheed Martin’s Space Fence program. “Some things as simple as mechanical fit or installation sequence will be much better understood before we arrive on island.”

 

The company built a demonstration unit while it was bidding for the contract in 2013 but Lockheed Martin officials said the new test site in New Jersey was significantly larger. The site tracked its first satellite on Jan. 30, the company said in a release.

 

“First track is major milestone for us and represents that we have a functioning radar,” Schafhauser said. “It’s the first time the end-to-end radar loop is closed and we track real objects in space. The first track and the new test facility means we are one step closer to delivering a dramatic tenfold improvement in space situational awareness and orbital monitoring capability.”

more at the link...

http://spacenews.com/lockheed-martin-opens-space-fence-test-site-in-new-jersey/

 

Background on Space Fence

http://mil-embedded.com/articles/space-track-space-junk/

 

There...I have just put junk in the space junk thread....ooops     

[Draggendrop Veteran]

DMSP-19 weather satellite dead after Air Force ends recovery effort

 

The Air Force's newest weather satellite on orbit, known as the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19, stopped responding to commands from operators in February. Credit: U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin artist's concept

 

Quote

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has stopped trying to recover a two-year-old weather satellite after operators lost the ability to command the spacecraft last month, an Air Force spokesman said March 24.

 

Operators at the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado have “ceased all recovery efforts” of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19 satellite, Andy Roake, a spokesman for Air Force Space Command, said in a March 24 email to SpaceNews.

NOAA satellite operators unexpectedly lost the ability to command the Air Force’s DMSP Flight 19 satellite on Feb. 11. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, is used to help weather forecasters predict fog, thunderstorms and hurricanes that could impact military operations. Launched in April 2014, the spacecraft is the Air Force’s newest weather satellite on orbit and had a five-year design life.

 

In the last week, Gen. John Hyten, the head of Air Force Space Command, ordered the creation of a safety investigation board to look into the incident, Roake said. Further investigations are still possible.

 

Hyten warned a House subcommittee March 15 that he did not expect the satellite to return to operations.

 

The DMSP constellation requires at least two primary satellites and two backup satellites to gather cloud imagery. As a result of the problem, the Air Force has reassigned an older satellite, DMSP Flight 17, which launched in 2006 and had been serving as a backup, into a primary role.

http://spacenews.com/dmsp-19-weather-satellite-dead-after-air-force-ends-recovery-effort/

 

---------------------------

 

This may be a problem...or the Chinese are being silent for a while longer.

 

Has Tiangong 1 gone rogue

 

Quote

Dr Morris Jones is an Australian space analyst who has written for spacedaily.com since 1999

 

file image

 

file image

 

Quote

China's announcement in late March that telemetry to the Tiangong 1 space laboratory had ceased is disturbing. The language used in the original Xinhua story was vague, but strongly suggested that Tiangong 1 had malfunctioned. This analyst has waited more than a week for a correction, clarification, or resumption of telemetry to be announced by China. That hasn't happened. We can safely conclude that Tiangong 1 has truly fallen silent.

 

Without telemetry, China will be unable to receive data from Tiangong's scientific instruments. More disturbingly, it seems highly probable that China will be unable to control the laboratory. Tiangong 1 is now a rogue spacecraft. That's no problem in the short term, but it could become a matter of concern when its orbit finally decays.

 

In recent years, the world has experienced several cases of large satellites falling back to Earth on uncontrolled trajectories. Thankfully, there have been no catastrophes. But the spaceflight community relies too much on luck instead of planning for spacecraft returns. At some point, that luck will run out, serious damage to property or lives will appear, and the space industry will have to explain itself to the public.

 

This analyst had long expected that Tiangong 1 would be de-orbited with a controlled thruster burn at the end of its mission, safely fragmenting over the Pacific Ocean. That could have been China's original plan, but if Tiangong cannot be controlled, that plan is now moot.

 

Tiangong 1 is a large spacecraft with a high drag coefficient. It's also hollow, with a low density. It will be tricky to predict its behaviour as it enters the upper atmosphere and makes its final orbits. Nobody will be able to say when or where it will come back. Nobody can really be sure if fragments will reach the surface of the Earth, whether it is land or sea.

 

Right now, it's impossible to make an educated guess on even a rough "window" for Tiangong's return. The orbit is still high. Unpredictable factors such as solar activity will influence its orbital decay. We won't have an estimate until it starts to fall much lower.

 

Could China intervene in the situation? Probably not. Boffins have long speculated on the use of tugboat spacecraft to safely de-orbit satellites. A Progress cargo ship was used this way to guide the ageing Mir space station to a controlled re-entry. But China doesn't seem to have a suitable tugboat spacecraft in its inventory right now. It's unrealistic to think that such a spacecraft would be developed before Tiangong returns.

more at the link...

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Has_Tiangong_1_gone_rogue_999.html

 

[DocM]

The failed USAF/NOAA DSMP-19 weather satellite launched in April 2014 was their newest weather bird. 

DSMP-20 is in storage and the USAF wants to launch it, but Congress has other ideas. 

Congress has been working with USAF on a plan to leverage Spire Lemur 2 and PlanetIQ commercial weather mini-satellites, and secondary payload modules on other satellites, which would use GPS Radio Occultation (GPS-RO) atmospheric sensors. 

 

http://www.planetiq.com/gps-ro-101/

These are much less expensive, sensitive, can be launched by smallsat launchers like Electron or Rocket Lab, or can piggybacked on other payloads. 

 

Congress may be making a good call here.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

I hear there's a graveyard orbit out there at an altitude of 200-300km of satellites' geostationary orbit.

[DocM]

A graveyard orbit is only useful if the satellites comms and propulsion system continue to work so it can get there. Otherwise it's junk in an activity zone. 

 

Graveyard orbit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graveyard_orbit

[Unobscured Vision]

Certainly builds the case for the "Junk Hauler/Salvager" mission ideas like "Phoenix" and others.

 

http://www.space.com/22969-space-junk-clean-up-ideas-incredible-technology.html

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Update on Tiangong 1

Analyst article

 

Lessons from Tiangong 1

 

Quote

The recent telemetry failure from China's Tiangong 1 space laboratory has lessons for the whole space community. This analyst has previously reported on the issue of Tiangong 1's eventual uncontrolled re-entry, which will happen at a time and a place that cannot be exactly predicted right now. Tiangong 1's return is another hard lesson in the broader issue of re-entering spacecraft. Putting it bluntly, the whole space community needs to take this problem more seriously before we experience real tragedy.

 

Quote

Of course, the failure of the telemetry could have been caused by the failure of other components that assist in telemetry, such as power systems or computers. We don't know if these failed, and it isn't clear if the Chinese themselves know. There will be much to reconstruct based on whatever data China gathered before the failure.

The failure of Tiangong 1 seems to have caught the Chinese by surprise. It suggests that something failed suddenly, with no prior warning. Otherwise, China probably would have taken steps to safely de-orbit the module before it became a rogue spacecraft. This is also a useful lesson. Perhaps some sort of back-up system could be necessary for future missions.

 

Quote

China has released no further information on Tiangong 1 or any responses since the initial announcement in March. There's probably nothing else to say right now. But lessons need to be drawn from this unexpected problem.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Lessons_from_Tiangong_1_999.html

 

If they have not gained control by now....it will be a waiting game to guesstimate path and follow it in for re-entry. 

[DocM]

Great. Just hope the damned thing doesn't come down over a populated area. Hope they've learned to put a separately powered/commed deorbit system on big things, even if it's just a mortar that fires out a long tether to increase drag.

[Unobscured Vision]

Yeah.  China's relative inexperience with these matters is what really worries me the most out of all of this.

 

No redundant, secondary uplink/downlink on its' own, equally redundant, independent power system with it's own dedicated, isolated, backup C&C ..? Even the Soviets had that on Salyut. Space is a hostile environment; and it was my understanding that the Chinese pride themselves on being students of history.

 

*sigh*

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Chain of onboard Failures responsible for sending Hitomi Observatory into Deathly Tumble

 

Image: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita

 

Quote

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency pieced together a rough timeline of the events sending the agency’s Hitomi spacecraft into an uncontrolled tumble, causing the spacecraft to break up in late March. Analysis of available telemetry data suggests a chain of errors led to the 2,700-Kilogram spacecraft entering a tumble when using invalid attitude data and operating its thrusters according to improper settings.

 

Hitomi, launched back on February 17, ran into severe trouble on Saturday, March 26 when it failed to check in with a ground station during a scheduled communications pass. Five debris objects separated from the spacecraft were tracked in orbit and calculations by the Joint Space Operations Center showed they were liberated from Hitomi around 1:42 UTC +/-11 minutes, indicting a very serious onboard anomaly had transpired. Beacon signals were received from the spacecraft three times until March 28, but Hitomi has fallen silent since then.

 

Because of a lack of telemetry data after the event, JAXA faced a difficult task when attempting to pin-point what happened to the Hitomi X-Ray Observatory. In a press briefing on Friday, a scenario of events was presented explaining Hitomi’s current state.

more at the link, and it is embarrassing...it should never of launched....period.

 

This entire payload was a disaster due to add on's, bad code and poor engineering fail-safes. This should never have been acceptable and I am a bit shocked at this, coming from Japan. Sounds like bureaucracy took over. This was a space pinata throwing spare parts for all.

 

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Regarding Hitomi

 

Quote

(1)Most of our analyses including simulations on the mechanisms of object separation, it is highly likely that both solar array paddles had broken off at their bases where they are vulnerable to rotation.

 

(2)Originally, we had some hopes to restore communication with ASTRO-H since we thought we received signals from ASTRO-H three times after object separation. However, we had to conclude that the received signals were not from ASTRO-H due to the differences in frequencies as a consequence of technological study.

 

JAXA expresses the deepest regret for the fact that we had to discontinue the operations of ASTRO-H and extends our most sincere apologies to everyone who has supported ASTRO-H believing in the excellent results ASTRO-H would bring, to all overseas and domestic partners including NASA, and to all foreign and Japanese astrophysicists who were planning to use the observational results from ASTRO-H for their studies.

More @ jaxa.jp

[DocM]

RIP Hitomi

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Quote

a very serious onboard anomaly 

Hacked by the aliens.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I just realized that the above post of mine, on the 17th of April, was missing the "link"....I apologize.....my bad. 

 

Chain of onboard Failures responsible for sending Hitomi Observatory into Deathly Tumble

http://spaceflight101.com/hitomi-failure-chain/

 

This is the link with the data of which I spoke in the post. This payload was a total disaster and never should have been "signed off" on, let alone launched.

 

Another collaborating article....

Japanese Hitomi X-Ray Observatory declared Lost, Post-Mortem Investigation begins

http://spaceflight101.com/hitomi-x-ray-observatory-declared-lost/

 

The press release, mentioned above...

Operation Plan of X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi)

http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2016/04/20160428_hitomi.html

 

The press release, IMHO, is a nice "touch" for now. Multiple subsystem and failsafe failures, putting the payload into a spin, of which, virtually very few arrays on any payload, would have withstood. Then JAXA  communicates, with another payload, and takes awhile  to realize this.

 

The above 2 articles give a good overview to what probably happened. I feel sorry for the personnel who put in so much effort into this payload and hopefully changes will be made because of this "preventable" bureaucracy.

 

[DocM]

In other words, a total Charlie Foxtrot.. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

On 4/29/2016 at 0:10 AM, DocM said:

In other words, a total Charlie Foxtrot.. 

confirmation

 

Cutting Corners & Lack of Operational Protocols doomed Japan’s Hitomi Observatory

 

Image: Akihiro Ikeshita/JAXA

 

Quote

It had already been established that Japan’s Hitomi Space Observatory was lost in a complex, cascading chain of onboard failures.

 

Details were now shared on the proximate causes of the spacecraft’s loss, highlighting that Hitomi’s fate was sealed by the deliberate disabling of safety systems, a willingness to accept operational risk and a lack of operational protocols for a major change on the spacecraft’s thruster system.

 

The 2,700-Kilogram spacecraft spun itself into pieces on March 26 after a series of errors in its attitude and control systems fed incorrect information to the satellite’s computers, resulting in a spin-up that ultimately caused the solar arrays and optical bench to rip off. Hitomi dove into its deathly spin a little over a month after its successful launch when test observations of high-energy X-ray sources in the universe had just begun. The mission was declared lost on April 28.

detailed coverage in the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/hitomi-failure-cutting-corners/

 

[DocM]

Great - Space Mines™

 

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/roscosmos/russian-ullage-rocket-engine-explodes-space/#pOvdLE2RklriYexF.99

 

Quote

The U.S. Joint Space Operations Center (JspOC), which tracks space debris, has reported that a Russian Ullage rocket motor exploded in space at approximately 5:20 a.m. EDT (9:20 GMT) on Wednesday, June 1. According to a statement issued by JspOC, the motor was orbiting the Earth in a highly elliptical orbit and suffered a break-up—disintegrating into at least 20 pieces.

The destroyed Ullage motor appears to be a part of a Blok DM-2 upper stage used on a Proton-M rocket that was launched in December 2008. The mission took to the skies from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and successfully delivered a trio of GLONASS navigation satellites into orbit.

Spaceflight101.com noted that the engine was tracked for the last time in an orbit of approximately 435 by 11,680 miles (700 by 18,800 kilometers) and was inclined an estimated 65.3 degrees. The site reports that this notification was released late on Tuesday, May 31.

The cause of the on-orbit explosion is still unknown, but most probably, it was triggered by the mixing of hypergolic propellants. It could also be due to a collision in space; however, JspOC, relying on initial estimates, has excluded that as a possibility.

“There is no indication this breakup was caused by a collision,” JspOC said in a statement.

The pieces of debris will be further monitored by the center to collect post-event tracking data in order to assess the trajectory of possible hazardous space junk. The number of pieces is probably higher than current calculations as many of them are too small to be detected from the ground.

Ullage motors, like the one that exploded, are used for flight stabilization, altitude control, and propellant settling activities. During a typical Proton flight, a pair of these motors remain attached to the Blok DM-2 and separates when the upper stage’s main engine reaches full thrust.
>

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Believe that is common for these engines ... propellant corrodes the housing .. they contact each other ... boom.  

 

Not the engine to use for long space missions.

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Hopefully, this design has been rectified, effectively, in future models...

 

Quote

Typically, each SOZ still contained up to 40 Kilograms of Nitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine propellants when separating.

 

These hypergolic propellants are corrosive and will eventually corrode tanks and propellant lines. If coming in contact, the propellant components ignite, making separated SOZ modules susceptible for spontaneously exploding after an extended period spent in orbit.

 

This was the 45th SOZ motor to explode.

 

The first SOZ motor exploded back in 1984 and an increasing number of such events led to a revision of the SOZ design to decrease the risk of explosion, though the date of when these changes were implemented is not known. The new Block DM-03 upper stage used on Proton and the Angara family does not employ detachable attitude control thruster units.

http://spaceflight101.com/russian-rocket-motor-explodes-in-orbit/

[Unobscured Vision]

Explains why the Space Shuttles were so high maintenance then. If memory serves, the OMS Pods used Hypergolics. Between replacing stuff going bad on those and the Tiles every other flight, it sure added up quick. Wouldn't surprise me if the RCS was Hypergolic too, just to milk Bessie.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Here is another concept being pitched for debris...

 

Aerospace Awarded NASA Grant for Innovative Space Debris Technology

 

An artist's conception of Brane Craft about to capture a piece of space debris. Image courtesy Joseph Hidalgo.

 

Quote

NASA has awarded Aerospace a grant to investigate the possibility of developing an extremely thin spacecraft that would wrap around debris and remove it from Earth's orbit. The innovative concept, called Brane Craft, is a 1-meter square spacecraft that is less than half the thickness of a human hair, and therefore exceptionally light, maneuverable, and fuel efficient.

 

"The Brane Craft concept is based on the one-dimensional compression of a complete spacecraft and upper stage into an essentially two-dimensional object in order to maximize power-to-weight and aperture-to-weight ratios," said Dr. Siegfried Janson, the lead investigator on this project.

 

If you have trouble wrapping your brane, er brain, around the concept, think of the spacecraft as a large piece of high-tech plastic wrap zipping through space and enveloping flying garbage.

 

The Brane Craft is one of 13 ideas that were picked for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which, according to NASA, "nurtures visionary ideas that could transform future NASA missions with the creation of breakthroughs - radically better or entirely new aerospace concepts."

 

NIAC provides $100,000 for nine months of research, with the possibility of another $500,000 for two more years if the results are promising.

Janson's idea for the Brane Craft is definitely cutting-edge, and it could provide a solution to a difficult problem-how to get rid of all the orbital debris that could harm active spacecraft.

more at the link...

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Aerospace_Awarded_NASA_Grant_for_Innovative_Space_Debris_Technology_999.html

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

This payload did not even make it in transit....

 

Japan’s DSN-1 military communications satellite damaged during transport to launch base 

 

The launch of India's GSAT-18 telecommunications satellite, shown here being unpacked on arrival at Europe's Guiana Space Center spaceport, will be delayed from July to at least September because its intended co-passenger, Japan's DSN-1 X-band military communications satellite, was damaged en route from Japan. Whether DSN-1 can be repaired at the launch base or will be returned to Japan was unknown. Credit: Guiana Space Center.

 

Quote

PARIS—Japan’s DSN-1 X-band military communications satellite was damaged during transport from Japan to Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport in South America and will miss its planned summer launch aboard a European heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket, also delaying its intended co-passenger, India’s GSAT-18 telecommunications satellite, industry officials said.

 

It remained unclear whether the damage is severe enough to require the satellite to be returned to Japan or can be treated at the spaceport facilities. Also unknown is whether the damage occurred during loading or unloading of the satellite, or during its air transport from Japan.

 

Launch-service provider Arianespace’s chief executive, Stephane Israel, said after the company’s June 18 Ariane 5 launch that the company’s next mission would not occur until Aug. 24 and would carry two Intelsat-owned satellites, IS-33e and IS-36. He made no mention of the planned GSAT-18/DSN-1 launch.

 

Industry officials said the C- and Ku-band GSAT-18 likely would be paired with Australia’s Sky Muster 2 Ka-band consumer broadband satellite for a launch as early as September, assuming no delays for the Intelsat campaign.

 

The Japanese Defense Ministry in 2013 agreed to finance the two-satellite DSN project as what was then Japan’s first Private Finance Initiative. A joint venture, called DSN Corp., was created to manage the project from end to end, including ordering and launching the satellites and operating them for 15 years in orbit.

 

Sky Perfect JSat, Japan’s principal satellite fleet operator, is the project coordinator and owns 65 percent of the joint venture. NEC Corp., with a 17.5 percent share, is prime contractor for the two satellites. NTT Communications, also with a 17.5 percent share in the project, is responsible for ground network management and maintenance.

 

Sky Perfect JSat did not immediately respond to requests for comment on DSN-1’s status.

 

The second satellite, DSN-2, had been scheduled for launch in 2017 by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aboard a Japanese H-2A rocket.

 http://spacenews.com/japans-dsn-1-military-communications-satellite-damaged-during-transport-to-launch-base/

 

The crews at the Guiana Space Center spaceport have been handling delicate cargo for a very long time. I would think, the damage may have been at origin or not stowed properly for transit...we will eventually hear the outcome in the near future.

 

[DocM]

Someone's going to the wood shed.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

We "may" have a problem...will need to monitor this one...

 

MUOS 5 Military Communications Satellite hit by Onboard Anomaly, Orbit-Raising halted

 

Quote

The U.S. Navy’s newest communications satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral two weeks ago, was forced to stop its ascent into a Geosynchronous Orbit due to an on-board anomaly, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command confirmed in a statement on Friday.

 

The fifth and final Multi-User Objective System satellite lifted off atop an Atlas V rocket on June 24, enjoying a trouble-free three-hour ride on its launch vehicle. Blasting off in its most powerful version, Atlas V was helped by five Solid Rocket Boosters to deliver the 6,740-Kilogram satellite to a custom Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit from where MUOS 5 was to complete an eight-day ascent to its high-altitude perch.

 

Atlas V was aiming to lift the satellite to an orbit of 3,842 by 35,707 Kilometers at an inclination of 19.1 degrees from where it was to use its BT-4 main engine to continue the climb uphill on its own with seven firings planned at apogee to circularize the orbit and reduce its inclination.

 

Satellite trackers discovered the newly launched satellite within two days, showing it in an orbit of 3,903 by 35,654 Kilometers, inclined 18.97°.

 

Quote

The satellite then began conducting orbit-raising maneuvers and was lost by observers until July 5 when it was found in an orbit of 15,242 by 35,703 Kilometers at an inclination of 9.8°, about half way to its intended Geosynchronous Orbit in terms of change in velocity needed to reach GEO.

 

This was the first indication of something off-nominal as the plan had called for the satellite to reach its checkout location in visibility of a ground station in Hawaii by July 3.

 

Satellite trackers reported seeing flashes from the satellite every few minutes.

 

The U.S. Navy issued a statement on Friday confirming that transfer maneuvers had to be temporarily halted due to an onboard anomaly on MUOS 5. No details on the nature of the anomaly were provided.

 

“The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Space Systems has reconfigured the satellite from orbital transfer into a stabilized, safe intermediate orbit to allow the MUOS team to evaluate the situation and determine options for proceeding,” the Navy statement said.

 

Regular flashes could indicate the satellite was placed into a spin stabilized mode, orbiting Earth every 15.7 hours.

more at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/muos-5-onboard-anomaly/