Here's the release from the Astra site........ of course it doesn't mention that there is now a massive bit of space junk up there , waiting to re-enter ! I presume it will be a fully controlled re-entry..anyone have any further info ? John. Baikonur, November 26th, 2002 ASTRA 1K SATELLITE FAILS TO REACH CORRECT ORBIT SES ASTRA regrets to announce the failure of the Proton launch vehicle to place ASTRA 1K, the fourteenth satellite in the ASTRA series, into the correct orbit. ASTRA 1K was built by Alcatel Space of France, with Proton launch services from the Cosmodrome of Baikonur (Khazakstan) provided by ILS (International Launch Services), a US-Russian joint venture. The spacecraft was intended to operate at ASTRA's orbital position of 19.2° East. SES ASTRA has full insurance coverage for the ASTRA 1K programme and the launch failure will not affect existing services at 19.2° East. Furthermore, ASTRA 2C, already operational at 19.2° East, offers comprehensive back-up for the ASTRA low-bands at this slot and will remain there until further notice. Interactive Ka-Band services will continue to be provided by the existing Ka-band payload on ASTRA 1H. With an existing available surplus capacity of roughly 20% of the 13 satellite strong ASTRA fleet in orbit, SES ASTRA, over the coming months, will reassess its future needs and make investment decisions on ASTRA 1K replacement capacity accordingly. For further information please contact: Yves Feltes Press Relations Manager Tel +352 710 725 311 Yves.Feltes@ses-global.com From: "Kevin Fetter" <kevin_fetter@hotmail.com> To: <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 6:03 AM Subject: geo sat in leo orbit > The ASTRA 1K satellite failed to reach it's proper orbit when it would be > seperated from the Block DM upper stage. It orbit at seperation was to > 3342*35786 km with an inclination of 26.3 degrees. > > The satellite reached a circular parking orbit of 175.5 KM inclined 51.6 > degrees. For some reason the Block DM upper stage failed to fire, so the > satellite was stuck in leo orbit. > > Since 175.5 km is higher then where satellite's re-entry, I would assume > it's still orbiting. Until atmo drag brings it back down to where it starts > to burn up, what nice passes it might give. What a large geo sat to fail to > reach geo orbit. > > No orbit from the oig. > > _________________________________________________________________ > The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' > in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org > http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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