Galaxy (satellite)

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Galaxy is the name for a fleet of communications satellites owned by the satellite operator Intelsat .

The satellites are originally from Hughes Communications, but were first taken over by PanAmSat and have been operated by PanAmSat since the merger with Intelsat. Galaxy 1, the first satellite, was launched by NASA on June 28, 1983 with a Delta 170 rocket . In 1992, after nine years, it was replaced by the Galaxy 5 as planned. There are currently 16 Galaxy satellites in space, including five Intelsat Americas satellites, which were added to the Galaxy range on February 1, 2007. The most recently launched satellite is Galaxy 19, which entered orbit on September 24, 2008 (with a Zenit 3SL rocket ).

List of Galaxy satellites

Logo for the communication satellite Galaxy IIIc (G-3C)
Logo for the communication satellite Galaxy XIII / Horizons 1
Surname Another name Start date ( UTC ) Launcher Launch site Satellite bus position Remarks
Galaxy 1 06/28/1983 Delta-3920 / PAM-D CC LC-17B HS-376 ( Hughes ) 141 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 1R 08/22/1992 Atlas-I CC LC-36B HS-376 ( Hughes ) - False start
Galaxy 1R2 02/19/1994 Delta II 7925-8 CC LC-17B HS-376 ( Hughes ) 105 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 2 09/22/1983 Delta-3920 / PAM-D CC LC-17A HS-376 ( Hughes ) 43 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 3 09/21/1984 Delta-3920 / PAM-D CC LC-17B HS-376 ( Hughes ) 38 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 3C PAS-9, Galaxy 13 06/15/2002, 10:39 pm Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey BSS-702 ( Boeing ) 95 ° west
Galaxy 3R Anik E2R 12/15/1995 Atlas IIA CC LC-36A HS-601 ( Hughes ) 129 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 4 HGS-4 06/25/1993 Ariane-42P H10 + CSG ELA-2 HS-601 ( Hughes ) 78 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 4R 04/19/2000, 12:29 AM Ariane 42L H10-3 CSG ELA-2 HS-601HP ( Hughes ) 164 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 5 March 14, 1992, 5:32 pm Atlas-I CC LC-36B HS-376 ( Hughes ) 176 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 6 Westar 6S October 12, 1990 Ariane-44L H10 CSG ELA-2 HS-376 ( Hughes ) 145 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 7 10/28/1992 Ariane-42P H10 + CSG ELA-2 HS-601 ( Hughes ) 96 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 8i December 8, 1997 Atlas IIAS CC LC-36B HS-601HP ( Hughes ),
BSS-601HP ( Boeing )
30 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 8iR SES-7, ProtoStar 2, Indostar 2 canceled Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey HS-601HP ( Hughes ),
BSS-601HP ( Boeing )
- Converted to ProtoStar 2
Galaxy 9 05/24/1996 , 01:09 Delta II 7925 CC LC-17B HS-376 ( Hughes ) 176 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 10R 25.01.2000, 01:04 Ariane 42L H10-3 CSG ELA-2 HS-601HP ( Hughes ) 175 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 11 12/22/1999, 12:50 AM Ariane 44L H10-3 CSG ELA-2 BSS-702 ( Boeing ) 44 ° East
Galaxy 12 04/09/2003, 22:52 Ariane 5G CSG ELA-3 STAR-2 ( Orbital ATK ) 129 ° west
Galaxy 13 / Horizons 1 01.10.2003, 04:02 Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey BSS-601HP ( Boeing ) 127 ° West
Galaxy 14 Galaxy 5R 13/08/2005, 23:28 Soyuz-FG / Fregat Ba 31/6 STAR-2 ( Orbital ATK ) 125 ° west
Galaxy 15 Galaxy 1RR 13.10.2005, 22:32 Ariane 5GS CSG ELA-3 STAR-2 ( Orbital ATK ) 133 ° west For flight information see here
Galaxy 16 06/18/2006 , 7:50 am Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 99 ° west
Galaxy 17 04.05.2007, 22:29 Ariane-5 ECA CSG ELA-3 SB-3000B3 ( Alcatel Alenia ) 91 ° west
Galaxy 18 May 21, 2008 , 9:43 am Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 123 ° west
Galaxy 19 IA-9 09/24/2008, 9:28 am Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 97 ° west
Galaxy 23 Telstar 13, IA-13, EchoStar-9 08.08.2003, 03:30 Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 121 ° West
Galaxy 25 Telstar 5, IA-5 May 24, 1997, 5:00 p.m. Proton-K / Blok-DM4 Ba 81/23 SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 93 ° west
Galaxy 26 Telstar 6, IA-6 02/15/1999, 05:12 Proton-K / Blok-DM3 Ba 81/23 SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 31 ° west Out of service
Galaxy 27 Telstar 7, IA-7 09/25/1999, 6:29 am Ariane 44LP H10-3 CSG ELA-2 SSL-1300 ( SS / Loral ) 109 ° East Out of service
Galaxy 28 Telstar 8, IA-8 June 23, 2005 , 2:03 pm Zenit-3 SL SL Odyssey SSL-1300S ( SS / Loral ) 89 ° west
Galaxy 30 08/15/2020, 22:04 Ariane 5 ECA CSG ELA-3 GEOStar-2.4E ( Orbital Sciences Corporation ) 125 ° West (planned)

Individual evidence :

Problems with Galaxy 15

In April 2010, the Galaxy 15 satellite left its position and uncontrollably drifted almost 0.2 ° per day along the equator to the east. However, the transmitters of its transponders and the attitude control were still active, so that interference with other satellites transmitting in the C-band , which Galaxy 15 drifted past, was feared. This was prevented by evasive maneuvers by the affected satellites.

Intelsat hoped that the Galaxy 15's position control would fail between November 28 and December 29, 2010 when the reaction wheels reached their maximum speed. On December 17, 2010, Intelsat announced that the solar cells are no longer optimally aligned with the sun and that Galaxy 15 has switched off its transponders due to the lack of electricity. When the sun shone on the solar cells again on December 23, 2010 , the on-board systems restarted as expected and the satellite could be brought back under control.

First he was brought to the position 93 ° West and examined there. After passing the tests, he was brought to the position 133 ° West and put back into service there.

According to the first results of the investigation, it is said to have been software errors caused by static electricity.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Galaxy (satellite) in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
  2. Intelsat: Satellite Coverage Maps (English)
  3. Galaxy in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
  4. Stephen Clark: Galaxy 15 'zombiesat' still alive after expected off date. Spaceflight Now, September 15, 2010, accessed October 8, 2010 .
  5. Galaxy 15 status update. Intelsat, archived from the original on October 8, 2010 ; accessed on October 8, 2010 (English).
  6. Thomas Weyrauch: Galaxy 15 communication payload is silent. raumfahrer.net, December 25, 2010, accessed on December 29, 2010 .
  7. Stephen Clark: Engineers back in contact with Galaxy 15. Spaceflight Now, December 31, 2010, accessed January 1, 2011 .
  8. ^ Brian Weeden: A Summary of the Galaxy 15 Incident and its Impact on Space Sustainability. (PDF) Secure World Foundation, February 15, 2011, p. 8 , accessed on August 14, 2020 .
  9. Intelsat: Galaxy 15 at 133 ° W. Accessed on August 14, 2020 (English).
  10. Stephen Clark: Build-up of static electricity turned satellite into zombie. Spaceflight Now, January 14, 2010, accessed January 28, 2011 .