Galaxy 26 moving

[Analoguesat]

Galaxy 26 (ex 49.9E) is on the move

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25626

Its moving about 2 degrees a day westwards, & is expected to be passing 7E in early May

http://exnetapps.intelsat.com/isdocs/ephemeris/i_ior_c_49.90_G-26_20140424_000000.txt

 

[Captain Jack]

What's its final destination?

 

[Analoguesat]

No idea but at 2 degrees a day its needed in a hurry somewhere!

Id guess its heading back to Yanky space.

 

[A nonymous]

Looks like a bit of a bucket according to Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_26

 

[Analoguesat]

According to a post on the sat-obs mail list Galaxy 26 has been retired to graveyard orbit.

 

[hvdh]

I take Kevin's graveyard messages with a grain of salt after he announced that for Astra 3A !
The current altitude just below 36000 km is not a proper graveyard altitude.

 

[hvdh]

To finish the story, retired after all!
Galaxy 26 was raised in altitude in several steps, the last one in the beginning of June.
See the graphs of altitude (green, left scale in km) and longitude (black, right scale in °).
Intelsat wrote an little story about the last years of G-26.
http://www.intelsatgeneral.com/blog/old-satellites-never-die-they-just-fade-away