44.5E (Nimiq 1)

Two and a half years on and I have to reopen the thread!

Hvdh has discovered some interesting info about the venerable old satellite!

The honour of giving the news is your Hvdh :)
 
Back then in 2013, I wrongly concluded that Nimiq 1 was sent to graveyard orbit!
Maybe I was misled by this: TSE - Nimiq 1
Of course, immediately after my post on 12 Sep 2013, Nimiq 1 started to slow down!

Nimiq 1 arrived at 86.5°W on 1 Oct 2013, and even today is still not inclined.
Nimiq1.webp
 
What is it doing at 86.5w? Seems they almost like wasting fuel in these things...
 
http://www.gra.gi/download/837/AR2014-2015.pdf
"This year, with the consent of the Canadian Administration, the Nimiq-1 satellite was drifted into a Gibraltar/UK orbital slot at 86.5°W. The satellite now provides direct-to-home TV over the Americas."

I don't think the latter is true. However, 86.5°W is halfway between Nimiq 6 (91.1°W) and Nimiq 4 (82.0°W), and could serve as an in-orbit spare as well.
 
Indeed, must admid, it reads like a well planned conspiracy between AS and me!
 
Its an easy way of making money for small states many of which are attractive to space companies due to low tax regimes.

Code: 
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1bc16e8e-3265-11e2-916a-00144feabdc0.html
 
Greetings, first post here.

Nimiq 1 was first seen with a single channel of video from 86.5w in January 2014. There were reports across North America of a signal at 12224 R 8000. Programming was a repeated loop about the launch of Anik G1. There was no audio.

Later there was a signal at the same frequency with an SR of 20000. Programming was a repeated 10 minute loop about SES. Audio was in Spanish. At one point the mux had 4 channels, the other 3 being color bars. These 4 channels were also on the C Band side of Anik F1r.

This has been more off than on over the last few years. I haven't seen any signal for a number of months. Definitely not a direct to home service, but just insuring their claim to the orbital position.
 
Hello lost_mesa - welcome to the forum.

Thank you or this interesting report, over here in Europe we can speculate all we like about whats happening but you cant beat local info!

:)
 
I'll try when I get time this weekend to see if its there.
 
Nimiq 1, launched May 1999, started inclining in May 2019 and stayed at 86.5°W al these years.
It finally looks (again...) Nimiq 1 is raised to graveyard orbit, with altitude well over 36200 km and drifting 6.1°W/day.
This end-of-life year (2021) was predicted in Telesat's annual report.
Nimiq 2, launched Dec 2002, is thought to last until 2024, and is currently drifting West slowly near 43°W.
 
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