Zombie Satellite Now Under Control

By Nancy Atkinson - December 28, 2010 01:44 PM UTC | Missions

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A geostationary satellite that

become a "zombie" earlier this year

and stopped communicating with ground controllers has now finally been reset and is under control. The Galaxy 15 communications satellite had its "brains fried" by a solar flare and went rogue in early May. Although it was still functional, its navigation and communications systems would not accept commands, and the satellite drifted out of its orbit. On December 23, 2010, engineers at the company Intelsat were finally able to command the unit to reset after a battery drained. Shortly thereafter Galaxy 15 began accepting commands, and then was put into safe mode. "We are pleased to report it no longer poses any threat of satellite interference to either neighboring satellites or customer services," IntelSat

said on their website.

While there was little chance that Galaxy 15 would crash into another satellite, it caused some problems when it entered an orbital space occupied by other satellites and "stole" their signal, thereby interrupting other vendor's services to customers on Earth.

Engineers will now do some diagnostic tests and load updated commanding software to the satellite.

"We expect to relocate the satellite to an Intelsat orbital location where engineers at our Satellite Operations Control Center will initiate extensive in-orbit testing to determine the functionality of every aspect of the spacecraft," Intelsat said.

The satellite is currently pointed towards the Sun, allowing the spacecraft's batteries to become fully charged and the satellite thermally balanced.

Once initial diagnostic testing has been completed, IntelSat will attempt to stop the drift of the satellite. This phase could take as long as two weeks to complete.

Intelsat is hoping full functionality of Galaxy 15 can be regained and they hope to relocate the satellite to an orbital location where we they can assess the viability of the payload, and conduct extensive in-orbit testing to determine the functionality of every aspect of the spacecraft.

Source:

Intelsat

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com