It has been revealed that the old ECHOSTAR 3 communications satellite, having spent nearly 20 years in-orbit – 7 years beyond its design life – has suffered an unknown anomaly during an orbital move from its previous location at 61.8 degrees West, to 86.86 degrees West.
Corporate logo of EchoStar Corp. Courtesy of EchoStar.
EchoStar reported that during the last week of July, the craft suffered an anomaly during it relocation. The anomaly has affected the TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking & Command) systems on-board the spacecraft, meaning it is currently unresponsive to ground commands and drifting West along the geostationary arc at a rate of 0.1 degrees/day.
EchoStar are confident that the communications payload remains inactive and will not interfere with other operators. Additionally, owing to its previously inclined position ECHOSTAR 3 is in fact 10-12 km above the average orbit in the geostationary arc, potentially reducing the chances of any third-party contact events.
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