At 0430 GMT on 19 October 2024, the communications satellite Intelsat 33e (IS-33e) in Intelsat’s ‘Epic’ fleet, had an explosive event in geostationary orbit causing the formation of debris (at least 20 pieces were tracked initially). It was unclear what exactly caused the explosion but Intelsat confirmed that a power loss had occurred and that the spacecraft was unlikely to be recovered. Customers using the satellite have been transferred to others. The spacecraft, which was located over the Indian Ocean over longitude 60.1 degrees East was launched in 2016, so should have been in its relatively ‘safe’ middle age years. The spacecraft did have a slower than expected final positioning into orbit as the result of having to use its secondary thrusters after its main Leros 1c apogee kick motor failed.
Artist’s impression of IS-33e on station. Courtesy: Boeing
Given the explosive nature has been speculation that this latest IS-33e event was either propulsion or battery related. Some have noted that there might be a similarity to the failure of the spacecraft’s sibling IS-29e’s own explosive failure in April 2019. That failure was thought to have been caused by a design error compounded by high solar activity or, possibly, by a micrometeoroid strike. It is thought that an electrical arcing/Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) event on the electrical harness (unfortunately located outside of Faraday Cage) impinged on a nearby propellant line causing a leak and explosion.
Comment by David Todd: The IS-33e spacecraft was not insured post initial launch plus one year policy. Intelsat were offered insurance on IS-33e after IS-29e failure but declined. A major mistake assuming that there were no major policy exclusions. Losing two expensive uninsured birds in orbit has got to hurt. Boeing, which built the two satellites using its Boeing 702MP (702B) bus, is really going through the mill with its spacecraft failures, most publicly with the human-carrying Starliner faults. It is also accused of having quality control lapses in its commercial aircraft line.
