Another Intelsat 'anomaly' causes lost satellite

[TuxCoder]

I didn't see this posted anywhere on here already...

"Intelsat, Ltd. announced today that its IS-804 satellite experienced a sudden and unexpected electrical power system anomaly on January 14, 2005, at approximately 5:32 p.m. EST that caused the total loss of the spacecraft."

From here.

This satellite seems to basically host the American Forces Network (with Pentagon Channel in the clear) for northeast Asian coverage, according to LyngSat.
The AFN has information on their resulting outage here.

You might remember, Intelsat Americas 7 was declared a total loss back in November (but miraculously recovered shortly after).

 

[truckracer]

intelsat anomaly

This is interesting. Another electrical anomaly (hope i spelled that right). It seems kind of fishy that these satellites that carry government comunications are experiencing problems. Like you said I remember Telstar 7 or IA-7 (can't get used to that new name) was supposed to be a total loss and voila its back, but I am not sure that it is at 100% operation. On Lyngsat.com, the last time I looked, many of the tp's were blank. Maybe due to them not being rented out or just not working.

Although it would not be out of question for a satellite to fail, with the terrorism scare our country now faces, it makes people wonder.

Could a satellite be put out of commision by an electro magnet pulse from a terrorist? Or some type of electronic weapon. I was reading on a news blog once that China is developing these types of weapons for use against the U.S.

It is kind of scary really.