Launch W3B 13E

[Analoguesat]

Final update:


Eutelsat cannot deorbit the faulty W3B for a controlled burn up so shes been safed and abandoned in her current orbit. She is expected to stay up for 20-30 years.

Safeing means the onboard propellants are drained and the batteries discharged - this is to try and avoid any accidental explosions which would litter low earth orbit with debris



-http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/101105-failed-w3b-satellite-orbit-decades.html

 

[futumsch]

Thanks for that. Latest NORAD Two Line Element set (6 November 00:40HRS) for Eutelsat W3B shows her still in her injection orbit reaching out to the Clark Belt. Its orbiting on average 2.27 times per day.

I haven't managed to work out the perigee altitude, but I reckon its around 400km, and she's only inclined at 1.9 degrees, so no chance of spotting her visually from UK.

p.s. ISS is passing overhead in the evenings in the UK at the moment.