After unusual geomagnetic storm, Intelsat loses control of Galaxy15, satellite used by media

Washington, Aug 24: Intelsat recently informed that it has temporarily lost the ability to control its Galaxy 15, a satellite used by media, after it was likely hit by a geomagnetic storm.

According to Intelsat, high space weather activity may have caused the loss of commanding links, which is the signal used to fly the satellite and to receive telemetry data.

Intelsat spokeswoman Melissa Longo said,"The satellite is otherwise nominal and maintains a nominal Earth orientation for all payload maneuvers. The satellite has begun slowly drifting East of its 133 degrees West positioning.''

The operator is working to restore its ability to command the satellite and expects customers to have service continuity until the satellite is replaced by Galaxy 33 in November 2022. Galaxy 33 is a C-band replacement satellite built by Northrop Grumman on its GEOStar platform.

Intelsat previously lost control of the satellite in 2010 but was able to reboot the satellite and restore control later that year.

Intelsat contracted Orbital Sciences Corp. (which eventually folded into Northrop Grumman through a series of mergers and acquisitions) back in 2001 to build Galaxy 15. The satellite was based around the GEOStar-2 satellite bus.

Galaxy 15 is an American telecommunications satellite which is owned by Intelsat. It was launched for and originally operated by PanAmSat, and was subsequently transferred to Intelsat when the two companies merged in 2006.