Is this the bird that was being launched in "one of those -stan countries"?
Yep, Borat was in charge!
AMC 14 Satellite Launch Failure - What now for Dish?
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Yep, Borat was in charge!
Ok, I'm a total n00b here, so please, any help would be appreciated. I'm just wondering how I'm set equipment-wise with all this talk of launching new satellites/converting to MPEG4. I had Dish installed last year, and my HD box is a VIP622 and the dish on the roof says Dish 1000. Now if/when these upgrades happen, am I gonna need to repoint the Dish (which I believe is now set to 119) or have any new equipment installed?
John you said the same thing that I said, but they could move E3 to 77w and move e6 to 61.5. Of chorse they would need fcc approval, but with recent events, they could get it pushed through.
I like the Idea of moving the bird into the correct orbit using the moon. That would preserve fuel. The question is if they burn the fuel to move it with the satellite, what does that do to the life expectancy? or is it just stuck at 61.5?
I just dont understand how half these sats either blow up on the pad, dont make it, or make it up into position but only partially work. You'd figured this **** would be easy by now. What a joke, looks like there's a market for a contractor who can actually get the job done.
Yep.. It would seem as if there is a great market for private contractors that can get it done. But for some reason, the U.S. seems to be discouraging private indivduals from getting into the game. NASA is loosing it's edge but trying to hang on.. Not sure exactly who is doing the discouraging. But the lack of Private contractors tells me that someone is keeping it from happening.
No matter what Dish decides to do (onboard fuel, lunar gravity, etc.) we're talking months if not years until this sat is back on schedule. It's not like they can wake up Monday morning and say, "Is it ok with everyone that we do a lunar flyby?? Ok, let 'er rip." Whatever they decide it will take special permissions, special filings, more planning, more delays...
As Scott pointed out, they are only out 4 TP's right now without this sat. Well guess what? 4 TP's = 28 National HD channels. Nothing to sneeze at.
Sorry if I don't take the, "They have options, they can overcome this" attitude. Yes they have options and yes they might be able to move forward but the issue here is timing. Things in the space satellite world happen on an almost geologic time scale which doesn't work for the ever changing HDTV world.
People often refer to Charlie as a poker player right? Here's an appropriate quote:
In "Confessions of a Winning Poker Player," Jack King said, "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career."
As Scott pointed out, they are only out 4 TP's right now without this sat. Well guess what? 4 TP's = 28 National HD channels. Nothing to sneeze at.
Sorry if I don't take the, "They have options, they can overcome this" attitude. Yes they have options and yes they might be able to move forward but the issue here is timing. Things in the space satellite world happen on an almost geologic time scale which doesn't work for the ever changing HDTV world.
People often refer to Charlie as a poker player right? Here's an appropriate quote:
In "Confessions of a Winning Poker Player," Jack King said, "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career."
Rainbow 1 was successfully launched from the US, using US made rockets. However that was back in 2003. Thats not to say rockets launched domestically have had a perfect track record. We had a recent reminder of that when the US government blew up one of its own failed satellites.
The bird can end up wherever they want it. It will just take time and fuel. However, they need to get to that 22000 mile orbit or the sat will not be geo-stationary (it would drift). They also need to get it out of the current polar orbit and into an equatorial one. This will take significant fuel.
However, if they could do it with 2/3 of the fuel, they could probably get significant life out of a single orbital slot. Probably not much left to move around. They need to keep a fuel reserve in order to correct for drift within the slot.
If they do this, they can salvage some operational time out of the bird. However, this will all take time. Don't expect this to be operational in 60 days. It likely will take longer than that just to get there. Then, if they have to do testing at 61.5, they are going to have to use the 4 empty transponders, and that will take a bunch of time as well.
If I were Charlie, I guess I would keep the current bird, use AMC-14 to provide 4 transponders and a bank of in-orbit spares. Start planning the replacement immediately.
OK, my question. Everybody is talking about shifting other satellites, but my understanding is that a satellite is designed to provide a certain footprint from an orbital location. The further they move one off that location, the more the footprint gets compromised. So, can the move one from a 124 slot to 61.5 as someone has suggested and get conus coverage. I know you would kiss off the advertised Alaska and Hawaii coverage, and a lot of the west coast. Probably better to leave it at 124 and try to straighten out licensing and interference issues.
Info about Asiasat 3, the satellite that they saved with the moon:
It can be done, but it depends on what SES can work out with the insurers. They might not get as much money if they try and save it.
Yes, this is a big issue. Depends on how the satellite was built. We learned that AMC14 was built to support two arcs, 61.5-77 and 110-119, so that they could move it later if needed. Moving an older bird that was designed for a specific slot would reduce the effective footprint. Kinda like 105 couldnt service much of the Northern states with the failed SuperDish HD effort.
Yeah, but everybody wants to do it cheap as well. You know the saying "Cheap, fast or good. Pick any 2"
It was how many years now since the 1st satellite was launched. I'm in complete agreement. Why hasnt this been figured out by now?
NASA, or at least its facilities, does launch commercial satellites.
Echostar 3
Echostar 5
Echostar 6
Echostar 7
Rainbow 1
ILS actually did several of these launches.
Scrap the plans for E6 to move to the 77 degree orbital slot. Instead move E6 to 61.5 so they can use all 32 transponder licenses at 61.5.
John
John
Correct. People stating to move E6 to 61.5 are failing to consider the fact that it's footprint would be SO distorted at 61.5 that it would be near un-usable as a conus solution in many parts. The old satellites do not use phased array technology and can not change their footprints on the fly! E6 was a horrid bird for many. IF that goes to 61.5 I can 100% guarantee that people will complain about it being worse than 129 for signal (even if it has the ability still to stay put vs 129 with fail momentum wheels) Let's hope that they can calculate how to recover the bird!
So you're implying that this isn't rocket science
The first satellite (Sputnik) was launched in the late 1950s -- give or take 50 years ago. The first geosynchronous satellite was in 1963.
The fact is, it ain't easy or automatic which you've been witness to over the last 15 months.
They could also free up 15 channels by getting rid of VOOM due to noncompliance witih FCC regulations on Closed Captioning (not to mention lack of programming)
