New Boing troubles: satellite goes *BOOM*

[thewayne]

So on top of its aircraft troubles, and its spaceship trouble, oh - did you hear they have an on-going strike, now they have had a satellite explode in space! (the strike is in its sixth week and workers (jet assembly line) voted to reject Boing's most recent offer) Boing just announced a $6 billion quarterly loss last week

So. The satellite. The Intelsat 33e was launched in 2016 and experienced "an anomaly" Saturday, and is now in 20 trackable pieces, and who knows how many smaller ones according to Space Command, Roscomos says they're tracking 80, and the major debris does not represent a threat to other satellites. These huge satellites are normally in much higher geostationary orbits so the debris is a very different field than if they were in lower orbits.

Its job was to provide communications across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Boing is working with other satellite vendors to reestablish services for its customers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-satellite-intelsat-33e-explodes-space-anamoly/

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/24/0142204/boeing-made-satellite-explodes-in-space

Strike news:
https://apnews.com/article/boeing-earnings-strike-vote-new-ceo-af6c6dab8747d5b8189df97a55e6b8d9

Comments

[thewayne]

The satellite has been sitting up there for eight years! I know most explosives are organic phosphates, they'd have to be really well-sealed to stand up to vacuum for that long and not degrade, ready to go boom on command.

Considering how every cubic centimeter is accounted for in terms of balance and structural integrity and all the testing and inspection points it has to go through prior to launch, I tend to doubt a bomb could be placed on a satellite.

[garote]

Thoughts on how/why it exploded?

[thewayne]

Possibly struck by a micro-meteorite, or a fuel tank exploded for reasons unknown.  They have to maintain a fuel supply for station-keeping and to move themselves to a parking orbit at end of life.  I don't think there's any particular reason to suspect foul play.

[moxie_man]

Oh, I have my doubts to. However, I can see that as a conspiracy quickly popping up.

[thewayne]

Probably.  People are most certainly prone to them in this day and age.