By BlueShift | 2024-10-31

The US Space Force is heading an investigation into the explosion earlier this month of a Boeing-made Intelsat 33e satellite, also known as IS-33e, in Earth's geostationary orbit (GEO).

The explosion caused an unknown amount of potentially dangerous space debris, highlighting the need for increased space monitoring cooperation.

An "anomaly ... resulted in the total loss" of the satellite on October 19, Intelsat said in a statement October 21, adding that it convened "a Failure Review Board ... to complete a comprehensive analysis of the cause of the anomaly."

IS-33e launched in August 2016 and began operations in January 2017, according to the company. It was deployed about 35,786km above Earth, which gave the satellite a constant view of the same slice of the planet.

But just a year into orbit, the company said two separate propulsion problems would shorten IS-33e's 15-year design life.

Tracking space debris

US Space Forces-Space (S4S) and various space-tracking companies are all tracking debris from the explosion.

US-based ExoAnalytic Solutions has so far identified about 500 pieces of debris, its chief technology officer, Bill Therien, told SpaceNews October 28.

"The size of the debris we are tracking ranges from small fragments roughly the size of a softball to larger pieces up to the size of a car door," he said in an email.

"The majority of the tracked objects are on the smaller end of that spectrum, which contributes to the difficulty of consistently observing all the debris pieces."

The company does not expect to observe every piece of debris each night because size, velocity and position relative to ground sensors can influence whether the debris is visible during a particular observation window, Therien added.

Ensuring flight safety

It is too early to say whether parts of IS-33e could hit another object in orbit, analysts say.

"The problem is that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the orbits of these fragments at the moment," said a spokesperson for UK-based space situational awareness provider Spaceflux. "They can be potentially dangerous for other satellites, but we do not know that yet."

S4S is working closely with ExoAnalytic and satellite operators to ensure flight safety.

S4S said it was tracking and analyzing about 55 associated pieces as of October 24.

"S4S has observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain," it said October 25 on X.

The United Kingdom's National Space Operations Centre is also analyzing the debris and determined the risk of collision was "low."

Although many communication satellites are in GEO, they travel at very low speeds along a single orbit. Therefore, there is less risk of debris collision than in the highly congested low-Earth orbit.