back to article Intelsat orbital comms satellite is back online after first robo-recovery mounting and tug job gets it back into position

The first mission that flew a spacecraft out to save an old telecoms satellite running low on fuel has been successful. The recovery quest by MEV-1, a Mission Extension Vehicle probe developed by Northrop Grumman to fix the Intelsat 901 comms satellite, now has the bird up and running again. Launched in 2001, Intelsat 901 …

  1. Caustic Soda

    Surely you mean "five by nine" and not "five by five". S5 is only moderately strong.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      The 2nd coolest woman on LV426 would disagree

    2. M7S
      Alien

      @ Caustic Soda

      I think they’re quoting a particular film. However they’ve now taken off and are in orbit, let’s hope there’s nowhere on the surface that they want to be particularly sure about....

      1. Martin Gregorie

        Re: @ Caustic Soda

        "Five by Five" is the usual final response to an aviation radio signal check.

        1. TheVogon

          Re: @ Caustic Soda

          Or Nation Shall Peak Six Unto Nation if you are at the BBC..

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @ Caustic Soda

        My guess would be it is an "Aliens" reference given it as both 5X5 and in the pipe...

    3. Anonymous Coward Silver badge

      591

      Perfectly readable, very strong, but I don't like your tone :-p

      1. Glen 1
        Coat

        Please hold while I change guitars!

    4. Alister

      Surely you mean "five by nine" and not "five by five". S5 is only moderately strong.

      Depends if you're using the US RST convention or the QSA QRK convention.

      QSA QRK are both out of 5, so 5 by 5 is perfect signal, perfect readability.

    5. Robert Grant

      See also: Aliens, and Starcraft.

    6. AK565

      Do you perhaps mean 9x5? I ask because 5x9 sounds very uncomfortable.

    7. wgbloom@yahoo.com

      The response depends upon your age and the technologies one has lived through and experienced!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder what it really does?

    Obviously has some really important top secret task - the TV and internet are just useful covers.....

    Mines the one with the conspiracy theory books in the pocket.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: I wonder what it really does?

      It's broadcasting the invasion instructions to the coronavirus. Possibly on 5G signal bands although I couldn't possibly either confirm or deny that.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: I wonder what it really does?

        Is it being controlled by major league baseball?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I wonder what it really does?

        And now that idea is being propagated by a moron, somewhere.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I wonder what it really does?

          Good luck to them trying to burn down a satellite in geostationary orbit.

          I've always thought the best way to protect things like 5G towers was to point out to the local teenager population that if anyone damages the tower their Internet connections will suffer and the morons are likely to become an endangered species.

    2. LoPath
      Black Helicopters

      Re: I wonder what it really does?

      Let's see... what kind of military application would you have for a satellite that can latch onto another one? Hmm...

      1. zuckzuckgo Silver badge

        Re: I wonder what it really does?

        Most of the actual design work was done by their subcontractor, Spectre something or other.

  3. Contrex

    Intersat or Intelsat?

    Which is it?

  4. squigbobble
    Boffin

    Makes me wonder...

    What part of a satellite, that was never meant to dock with anything, would be sturdy enough to grapple? The engine bell? Hardpoints where was attached to the rocket that launched it?

    1. Chairman of the Bored

      Re: Makes me wonder...

      My understanding is that it inserted a probe into the bell of 901's main thruster. Seems uncomfortable, but it works.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Makes me wonder...

        It reminds me of the T-shirt parody advert "Fly United". The one with the ducks.

    2. Annihilator

      Re: Makes me wonder...

      https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/02/26/two-commercial-satellites-link-up-in-space-for-first-time/

      has much more details. It has a CGI video demonstrating the approach and capture. Even has images of the actual capture beamed back from MEV-1. But yeah, the engine bell.

      Impressively, the 5 year thing is just a contract agreement. At the end of the 5 years, MEV-1 can go and capture another dud satellite and keep that one going instead (it's engines are electronic and powered by solar panels potentially indefinitely)

      1. Mage Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: Impressively,

        Excellent Boffinry and Rocket Science.

      2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Makes me wonder...

        Not indefinitely. It still has to have stuff to throw out the back, it simply uses electricity to accelerate the stuff instead of chemistry

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Makes me wonder...

          So there's now a market for a satellite servicing servicing facility?

          :)

          That said, this does make sense. The next idea is about sending up propulsion packs that such a servicing facility could clamp to existing satellites to take over positioning duties, but if that is what they are next sent up by default it could even just become a matter of refilling. A sort of petrol station in the sky (well, xenon station).

          I'm impressed with all this.

        2. Annihilator
          Facepalm

          Re: Makes me wonder...

          Balls, yes, quite right, I had images of it being an ion thruster, completely forgetting it had to ionise something..

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Pint

        Re: Makes me wonder...

        The engines will eventually run out of propellant.

        However, if you are really clever (for example, a rocket scientist... or satellite scientist in this case), you can use the magnetic field of earth, solar radiation, or other forces (atmospheric drag) to make some orientation adjustments. You just cannot really boost the orbit with this method. You need fuel for that, unless using a solar sail (which they have in the works) or a photon drive (which is any light source, but getting one bright/strong enough is the hard part!).

        [edit] Fuel icon.

  5. JassMan

    Satelite designers missed a trick

    Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if all satelites had been equipped with an ISO standard gas connector, the MEV could have been equipped with a second arm to fondle the satelites nipple and do a full refuel. It then wouldn't need to remain attached for the next few years before finding another satelite to act as a tug for.

    Presumably the MEV has a preplanned mission so could be fitted withall the different connectors it is likely to encounter. 4 or 5 connectors could be mounted on a ball turret much like a lathe toolhead.

    1. Blofeld's Cat

      Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

      Presumably an advantage of the "space tug" approach over refuelling, is that it can be used where the satellite's propulsion or alignment system has failed for a reason other than fuel, such as reaction wheels stopping.

      Given that the tug does not need any sort of cooperation from its target, it could also potentially move (or de-orbit) dead satellites that didn't get to a graveyard orbit.

      1. Tom 7

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        De-orbiting satellites is something that could be orchestrated into a rather nice fireworks display. However if tomorrow night is anything to go by it would seem that in the UK all interesting night sky events will occur when cloud cover is 100%.

        1. HorseflySteve

          Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

          Not just the night sky. I waited 50 years to see the only total solar eclipse visible in the UK in my entire expected lifetime...

          1. Martin Gregorie
            Pint

            Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

            ....while a friend and I, mistrusting British weather, went to Hungary and got a lovely view of the whole shebang - crescent-shaped sunspots under trees, blackout, solar prominences, Bailey's Beads, birds roosting, orange 'sunset' round the full 360 and interference bands scudding across the nearby tarmac.

            Plus an excellent lunch washed down with some decent beer afterwards, hence icon.

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        How large of a tug would you need for Hubble? :)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

          IIRC Hubble was fitted with a docking ring in the last mission so it can be docked to a deorbit system when it will be decommissioned. We'll see how large it will be.

          1. annodomini2

            Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

            If SpaceX get Starship working, I'd love to see Hubble either serviced again or brought down intact.

            1. Timto

              Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

              Me too.

              Start a kickstarter or gofundme.

              Just put $500,000,000 in the target box.

              I'll chip in £10

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

          It's space - any sized tug will do it eventually. Just depends how long you're willing to wait.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Coat

            Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

            If we wait for an eternity, we can just assume the universe hits a quantum blip and reorganises all the atoms into just the right perfect arrangement.

            Mines the one with the bill for the probability drive in the pocket, I do accept paypal for my services. ;)

    2. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

      "if all satelites had been equipped with an ISO standard gas connector"

      Have you ever seen the way that satellites are fuelled up? And the amount of protective kit people have to wear when they do it? This stuff is hydrazine and other nice hypergolics. https://sci.esa.int/web/herschel/-/44658-preparations-for-hydrazine-fuelling-in-s5b

      The issue isn't the connectors, it's the amount of protective stuff that has to be put over them afterwards to ensure there are NO leaks during subsequent handling/launching of the bird

      Proposals have been made to have this stuff be removable on-station but nobody has adequately addressed how to be able to reseal the things after refilling. You DO NOT want your satellites floating around in a cloud of hydrazine and other sticky, corrosive "stuff" coating every conceivable surface

      1. Mage Silver badge

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        Not all use hydrazine. Some use Xenon and Solar power to expel it so as to save reaction mass.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        There's a difference between the very please-do-not-smoke dangerous stuff used to get it off the planet and the reactionary mass used to keep it in place afterwards. The latter, for modern electric engines, appears to be an inert gas, and that you could refill via a robotic clamp connector.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Boffin

          Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

          A lot of older satellites use UDMH, which is not as much "fun" as actual hydrazine but is still entertaining.

          It's amazing that you could have a packaged missile about 8cm in diameter running on UDMH and red fuming nitric acid, but clever chemists can tame a lot of things. Even so, even with no people around in space,I doubt a standard ISO connector would be much use.

          (Also, could I be pedantic and point out that "reactionary mass" would be the 1922 committee. Reaction mass is what satellites contain.)

    3. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
      Alien

      Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

      Boosting that fuel has a cost, and the risk of it leaking is high.

      It would also be difficult to haul enough fuel for multiple satellites.

      If you're sending up a purely refuelling rig, you may as well send up a complete new bird to benefit from other technological advances.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        It's getting it off the planet which is where the costs hide. Once geostationary, it takes a lot less fuel to keep it there.

        Sending up a refuelling robot and a fuel tank with inert gas like Xenon to extend the life of satellites (the connector for which could also be brought in as a design criteria for new birds) will save several launches from Earth to replace the ones running out of stabilisation fuel so I think it's definitely viable.

        Sat tech may advance, but they're not the sort of short life disposables that the PC market is filled with. Keeping them going for longer is worth the effort.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Satelite designers missed a trick

        No. Just no.

        Their actual proposals, with the math and fuel budgets calculated, do this exact thing. Multiple sat servicing and refuelling lines.

        These things are fuels *on the ground* thus connectors are easy to design, they already have them.

        The harder part is welding/sealing after and mating the connectors. They are currently considering an arm to send out the fuel lines/open the connectors. I suppose as this is safer/more multi-functional than a simple docking port, as the port may get in the way of some complex satellite designs.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In-flight refueling.

    Excellent. Very clever stuff.

  7. Franco

    Interesting article, but did anyone else see the acronym MEV and immediately think of Captain Scarlet?

    https://thunderbirds.fandom.com/wiki/Martian_Excursion_Vehicle

    1. genghis_uk
      Pint

      Yes, but I did not know why...

      Thanks for the reminder. It was in there somewhere

      Have one of these -->

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Old-dog

    Old stuff

    I don't understand the value of recovering such an old satellite.

    I suppose it communication electronics must be much slower than a new one.

    And all of its systems at the end of their expected life of 13 years.

    MEV service costs $ 13M per year.

    1. Stephen May

      Re: Old stuff

      Working in the industry, generally what causes a satellite to reach end of life is the lack of fuel for station keeping. The electronics tend to keep on working far longer than the fuel. The transmitters generally are Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers which tend to just keep going and have no views on being faster or slower. The only things I've ever seen to cause a satellite to reach the end of it's life are the fuel running out or a catastrophic failure that kills it dead in orbit, such as when AMOS 5 died.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Old stuff

        That takes me back a bit, I'd forgotten about TWTAs!

        Another one of Hitler's stupid mistakes, since the TWT was invented by an Austrian Jewish guy, Kompfner, who left for England as the Nazis started to gain power.

        1. Stephen May

          Re: Old stuff

          We still use TWTAs a lot in Satcomms. I've got a trio of wideband (12.75GHz-14.5GHz) 750W TWTAs in use. Solid state can't match the bandwidth and the power of them. I've got a few C-Band SSPAs that are meant to be the equivalent of TWTAs, but in practise they're much more unreliable. SSPAs are OK for up to 200W, anything above that it's masses of phase-combined SSPAs or TWTAs

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Old stuff

          A downvote? Do we have actual Nazis mouthing the words in The Reg as they try to read them?

  10. phuzz Silver badge

    Plural of 'spacecraft'?

    two commercial spacecrafts

    I thought the plural of 'spacecraft' is 'spacecraft' (like sheep).

    Is this a UK/US English thing?

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