A communications satellite built by Boeing exploded and shattered while orbiting space, resulting in a “total loss” of equipment used to serve customers in Europe, Africa and parts of the Asia-Pacific region. “did.
The company that bought the satellite from Boeing announced on Monday that the IS-33e satellite had completely stopped working, after initially saying an “anomaly” had occurred on Saturday.
“Due to an anomaly previously disclosed on October 19, the Intelsat 33e satellite was completely lost,” satellite communications company Intelsat said in a statement. “We work with satellite manufacturers, Boeing, and government agencies to analyze data and observations.”
The satellite has been confirmed to have broken up into at least 20 pieces of space debris, which are being tracked by the U.S. Space Force. according to the alarm. Federal authorities say there is no immediate threat.
Intelsat convened a “failure review committee” to investigate the cause of the explosion.
The lifespan of an artificial satellite was supposed to be 15 years, but According to Space News — It was launched in August 2016 and began operations in January 2017, the company said.
Boeing's IS-33e had problems from the beginning.
According to the trade publication, the main thruster experienced problems during the test, which led to problems with the secondary propulsion, which brought it into service three months later, three and a half years after its initial lifespan.
According to Space News, Intelsat lost another Boeing satellite called IS-29e in 2019. The cause of its destruction just three years after its launch was not fully understood, but it was thought to have been the result of a wiring problem or a meteorite impact.
Boeing has come under intense scrutiny over the past year for numerous problems with its 737 MAX jets and the failure of its Starliner program, which left two NASA astronauts stranded in space for eight days due to thruster problems. have been exposed to.
