That's not good.
Breakup Text
A Boeing satellite belonging to multinational service provider Intelsat mysteriously blew into pieces in geostationary orbit over the weekend.
According to an official update, an "anomaly" caused the satellite — dubbed IS-33e — to be destroyed, resulting in what the company calls a "total loss."
"Migration and service restoration plans are well underway across the Intelsat fleet and third-party satellites," the update reads.
It's unclear what exactly caused the satellite to break up. The US Space Force announced it was "tracking around 20 associated pieces" but "observed no immediate threats."
US-based space tracking company ExoAnalytic Solutions told SpaceNews that it's tracking 57 associated pieces of debris.
While we have yet to find out the exact cause for the breakup, the incident serves as a reminder of the often limited life of satellites, as well as the ever-present threat of existing space debris colliding with our assets in orbit — a precarious situation that could potentially lead to a disaster.
Shelf Life
The satellite, which weighed 14,600 pounds and was roughly the size of a minivan, was designed and manufactured by Boeing Space Systems and launched in 2016. It provided broadband services, including internet and phone communication services, to parts of Europe, Africa, and most of Asia.
IS-33e was the second satellite to be launched as part of Boeing's "next generation" EpicNG platform. The first, dubbed IS-29e, failed due to a propulsion system fuel leak. Intelsat declared the satellite a total loss in April 2019, later attributing it to either a micrometeoroid strike or solar weather activity.
What caused IS-33e to break up in orbit remains unclear, however. Intesalt officials did observe that it was using far more fuel than it should be to maintain its orbit shortly after launching eight years ago, shaving off 3.5 years of its 15-year lifetime.
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