Mev-1 will move intelsat 901 to 27.5 west

[william-1]

The first Mission Extension Vehicle, or MEV 1, will link up with an 18-year-old Intelsat communications satellite early next year. Once docked, the MEV 1 spacecraft will take over propulsion for the Intelsat 901 satellite, which is running low on fuel.

Once the satellites are docked, the MEV takes over attitude control and propulsion responsibilities, acting like a jet pack for the customer spacecraft.
The MEV’s fuel-efficient, xenon-fed ion thrusters will steer the Intelsat 901 satellite toward a new operating post at 27.5 degrees west longitude. Intelsat 901’s current orbit takes the satellite about 1.5 degrees north and south of the equator during each 24-hour orbit.

The Mission Extension Vehicle will guide Intelsat 901 back to a position directly over the equator.

Satellite industry’s first robotic servicing mission ready for launch – Spaceflight Now.

 

[william-1]

Mev-1 + Intelsat 901
How the joined satellites will look

 

[Adam792]

I guess this answers what happens next for BBC Satback on the ailing IS907.

 

[william-1]

When MEV-1 connects to Intelsat 901 (incl. 1.3°) 29.5°W I expect that there will be a test period at another location near to 27.5 west with the new Latitude of 0.0°,
As the main transponder for UK DTT @ 27.5°west is in the Ku Band no mention of the Ku band test transponders has been made so far.

Transponder band data for Intelsat-901:-
Ku = 10.950 to 11.700 GHz 22 transponders linear polarisation,
C = 3625 to 4200 MHz 72 transponders circular polarisation.

 

[william-1]

william-1

I guess that MEV-1 will test somewhere between 18 west & 29.5 west ?

hvdh
Probably there is no payload that need testing. This was in yesterday's FCC report for several US earth stations:

On October 8, 2019, Intelsat License LLC was granted special temporary authority for 30 days, beginning October 9, 2019, to operate its
Fillmore, CA earth station to provide launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) and TT&C services to MEV-1 (S2990) satellite during: (1) the
spacecraft's LEOP period; (2) MEV-1's docking with Intelsat 901 (S2405) satellite at 300 km above the geostationary arc; (3) the drift as a
combined vehicle stack (CVS) with Intelsat 901 satellite from 300 km above the geostationary arc to 27.5° W.L.; and (4) as the CVS on-station
at 27.5° W.L. on the geostationary arc on center frequencies: 5924.00 MHz, 5927.50 MHz, 6170.00 MHz, and 6180.00 MHz (Earth-to-space);
and 3698.00 MHz, 3944.50 MHz, 3955.50 MHz, and 4199.80 MHz (space-to-Earth).

Info with regards to MEV-1 & Intelsat 901 copied & moved from this thread Eutelsat 5 West B - SatsUK to here.

 

[william-1]

Real time satellite tracking for: INTELSAT 901
Real time satellite tracking for: MEV-1

 

[hvdh]

Intelsat 901 has left 29.5°W two days ago, and will be raised to graveyard altitude, eventially to dock with MEV-1.
Intelsat 904 was moved to 29.5°W in September 2019 already, to keep this position occupied.

Inclination of Intelsat 901 is 1.4°, while MEV-1 still has 3.6° inclination, it will take some time before both are "in sync".