Where Will E2 Drift Towards?

[vegassatellite]

Without control of E2, is it in danger of drifting in to E1? I mean, I don't know which way that thing would drift, but I would hope that E1 is in the opposite direction. Anyone know which way satellites tend to drift when unsteered? If E2 crashes into another bird and creates a lot of debris, that could be a real problem for all the birds up there in the belt.

It would be cool if they could invent a way to rope a stray satellite and drag it out to graveyard. Perhaps the government could use AMC14 as a strategic means of T-Boning E2 and knocking both of them out of the geosynch orbit. Hit it at the right angles and who knows?

 

[greg47]

E2 Loss

Without control of E2, is it in danger of drifting in to E1? I mean, I don't know which way that thing would drift, but I would hope that E1 is in the opposite direction. Anyone know which way satellites tend to drift when unsteered? If E2 crashes into another bird and creates a lot of debris, that could be a real problem for all the birds up there in the belt.

It would be cool if they could invent a way to rope a stray satellite and drag it out to graveyard. Perhaps the government could use AMC14 as a strategic means of T-Boning E2 and knocking both of them out of the geosynch orbit. Hit it at the right angles and who knows?

The FCC has required for years a seperate backup system to graveyard or de-orbit satellites. Echostar like other satellite companies monitor the telementry and data from the satellites 24/7 365 days a year. Usually they have advance warning through the earth bound recieved data to avoid a dead bird in the clark belt. If it does happen that a satellite just goes dead without warning the satellite will start drifting out of its figure 8 geo orbit box in space. Since all orbiting space debris is constantly tracked they can manuver the other satellites out of the way until the earth's gravity pulls it from the geo orbital plane where it endangers the other geo satellites. I have read several articles on the net about a few start up companies working on a satellite robot that would have the ability to attach to and or move a disabled or damaged satellite to another location(deep space,a deorbit manuver or a orbit where the satellite could be salvaged or repaired.

 

[vegassatellite]

The FCC has required for years a seperate backup system to graveyard or de-orbit satellites. Echostar like other satellite companies monitor the telementry and data from the satellites 24/7 365 days a year. Usually they have advance warning through the earth bound recieved data to avoid a dead bird in the clark belt. If it does happen that a satellite just goes dead without warning the satellite will start drifting out of its figure 8 geo orbit box in space. Since all orbiting space debris is constantly tracked they can manuver the other satellites out of the way until the earth's gravity pulls it from the geo orbital plane where it endangers the other geo satellites. I have read several articles on the net about a few start up companies working on a satellite robot that would have the ability to attach to and or move a disabled or damaged satellite to another location(deep space,a deorbit manuver or a orbit where the satellite could be salvaged or repaired.

I agree. The company that invents an unmanned satellite that holds fuel and can dock with satellites to refuel them will make a killing, especially if the satellite can be designed for re-entry and splash down in the ocean for recovery. This might not be possible with existing satellites, but future satellites can be built with support for a refueling vessel of a standardized design. Ideally, the bird would have the fuel capacity to refuel at least a couple of birds on each mission.

 

[Anole]

I -- LOVE -- IT !

Let's see, maneuver it over near an enemy satellite, and deton...err....uhhhh.... have it accidentally explode with all fuel on board. - :up

Or, just give 'em low grade fuel. Stuff that'll clog their injectors or whatever they have.
It runs a few months, and then suddenly it can't get it's thrusters up! - -

 

[Bob Haller]

satellites are launched with more than enough fuel for their expected lifetimes.

only when things go wrong would refueling be needed, and most of the time that means the bird already has other major troubles.

the big exception is booster failure, reached orbit, but not where it belongs.

a space tug should be built, for all sorts of mergencies