Eutelsat 113WestA fails

Analoguesat

Analoguesat

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My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
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Scottish Borders
Satmex6 tracking details

www.n2yo.com

Real time satellite tracking for: SATMEX 6

Track satellite(s) SATMEX 6 and see where are they located now. Check when there will be the next pass over your location
www.n2yo.com www.n2yo.com

Now the question has to be asked - is she under control & destined for graveyard orbit or has the old girl failed totally in situ & destined to wander off station & cause havoc as she drifts.....
 
Analoguesat said:
Satmex6 tracking details

www.n2yo.com

Real time satellite tracking for: SATMEX 6

Track satellite(s) SATMEX 6 and see where are they located now. Check when there will be the next pass over your location
www.n2yo.com www.n2yo.com

Now the question has to be asked - is she under control & destined for graveyard orbit or has the old girl failed totally in situ & destined to wander off station & cause havoc as she drifts.....
Click to expand...
Could you please explain what is the graveyard orbit?
I suppose it could be a location where old satellites are placed after service but not sure, and I do not know where it is in the sky. Thanks.
 
Graveyard orbit is a generic term for orbits 100miles or more above geostationary. End of life satellites are supposed to use the last dregs of fuel to boost their orbits a few hundred miles. This is so they cant collide with operational satellites.

Once in disposal orbit final commands are uplinked onto the satellite to make it safe. The fuel valves are opened to drain the tanks & the batteries are shorted out to make sure they cant explode after accidental short circuits. (Or come back on - which sometimes fails and there are several dozen abandoned satellites of various types that have come back to life after end of service!) The final safeing procedures is called passivating the satellite. Once the satellite is deactivated & de fuelled it can be abandoned to slowly circle the earth for eternity.

Please note
This is a simplistic description of satellite disposal - yes I know its not fully accurate but it gives an idea of what happens.
 
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Thank you @Analoguesat, very clear!
I knew something about satellites disposal but not in detail as you explained.
So I suppose that, after more than 60 years from the launch of the first geostationary orbital satellite, we have many many dead birds around the earth! A real graveyard!!
 
@7mdish

Ive found a description of the measures taken when polar orbiting weather satellite NOAA 17 was decommissioned in 2013. Unfortunately in this case it didnt work & the satellite fragmented into over 40 pieces in March 2021

www.space.com

Defunct US weather satellite breaks up in Earth orbit

A U.S. weather satellite that retired eight years ago has fallen apart in orbit, breaking into at least 16 pieces, according to government representatives.
www.space.com www.space.com

"When it was decommissioned, NOAA satellite operations turned off all the spacecraft transmitters, disconnected the batteries, opened thruster valves to deplete nitrogen and pointed the solar array away from the sun," agency officials wrote. "These steps were taken to ensure the satellite was as inert as possible and minimized the risk of radio frequency interference with other spacecraft after decommissioning."

These satellites are not moved into graveyard orbit as they are not geostationary- they are just abandoned after being safed.
 
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