Intelsat 33e (geostationary satellite)

2024

Satellite falls apart into 500 pieces of debris

At the end of October 2024, ExoAnalytic discovered 500 debris in geostationary orbit, into which Intelsat 33e, a satellite manufactured by Boeing, fell apart.

This new generation satellite from EpicNG's high-bandwidth series was launched and began providing communication services to customers in Europe, Africa and parts of the Asia-Pacific region in January 2017. Intelsat 33e was planned to serve as a communications satellite for 15 years, but initially it had problems with the propulsion system, due to which the estimated service life was reduced by 3.5 years. However, the satellite did not live to see this date and collapsed on October 19, 2024. Intelsat is still investigating the causes of the breakdown of the Intelsat 33e satellite. It is assumed that the cause of the failure was either a collision with a meteorite, or a defect in the electrical wiring, which led to a breakdown due to increased solar activity.

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The size of the debris being tracked ranges from small fragments slightly larger than a tennis ball to larger pieces the size of a car door, said ExoAnalytic CTO Bill Therien. - Most objects belong to small fragments, which complicates the sequential observation of all fragments at the same time.

The company does not expect to track all debris each night as its size, speed and position relative to ground sensors can affect visibility during certain hours. In addition, there is a possibility that some of them have already disappeared, for example, evaporating fragments of solid fuel. Nevertheless, ExoAnalytic continues to work closely with the US Space Force and satellite operators to ensure flight safety.

It is too early to tell if parts of Intelsat 33e could collide with another object in orbit. However, such a collision is possible, which could lead to the formation of even more potentially dangerous debris.^[1]

The loss of the satellite

On October 19, 2024, Intelsat reported that its main geostationary satellite Intelsat 33e had failed and had fallen apart. Because of this, thousands of subscribers in Europe, Africa and parts of the Asia-Pacific region were left without TV and Internet.

The Intelsat notice initially said the spacecraft had experienced power problems, making it impossible to provide services. However AIR FORCE USA , the appearance of about 20 fragments near the satellite was recorded. Intelsat later announced that the device was completely lost. The company noted that it is working with government agencies to establish the causes of what happened: a special council has been created to investigate the causes of the incident.

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intelsat

The state corporation Roscosmos also reported the appearance of debris near the Intelsat-33e satellite. According to the Automated Warning System for Dangerous Situations in Near-Earth Space, about 20 unidentified space objects were found in the orbit plane of this device. The results of the preliminary analysis showed that the nearest devices of the Russian group to the Intelsat-33e standing point in geostationary orbit are the telecommunication satellites Express-AT1, Yamal-402 and Express-AM6, and the hydrometeorological Electro-L. Russian specialists collect coordinate information to clarify the parameters of the orbits of the identified space objects.

Intelsat-33e was launched on August 25, 2016 by a Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center. It was Intelsat's second high-bandwidth EpicNG series satellite (next generation). The family's first vehicle, Intelsat-29e, was declared completely lost in 2019 after just three years in orbit. The failure is either due to a meteorite impact or a wiring defect that led to electrostatic discharge as a result of increased solar activity.^[2]

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