Murphy's Law of satellite failure....
So far in 2008 there have been some glitches in the "get along" for satellite owners.....
In March, SES Americom satellite AMC 14 (totally leased to EchoStar/Dish Network) failed to reach the correct orbit to have maximum useful life. The options are to use fuel on board to get to the right orbit (reducing the total life of the bird) or leave it where it is and reduce the number of HDTV channels it is able to handle. Both options are a setback to Dish Network, who is struggling to compete with DirecTV.
Another of the SES Americom satellites, AMC 4, has recently been slated to be taken out of service at it's original slot by an unknown issue with several transponders. SES Americom has moved AMC 2 into the "slot" taken by AMC 4 at 101 degrees W. and most domestic customers have service. Since AMC 2 is not as powerful as AMC 4, it has not able to accommodate all of the customers - ie some folks with smaller dishes and outside the U.S. are still in the dark.
Separately, IntelSat will be forced to move a satellite (G 18) over to the slot currently occupied by G10R at 123 degrees W. G10R has developed propulsion issues and will not be able to stay in geo-orbit much longer. G10R does have enough fuel to stay in orbit until this switch takes place, so this change will likely be transparent to customers (the changeover was successful on June 3, 2008). After the changeover to G 18, G10R will be shut off and allowed to crash into the sea.
These three situations point out how vulnerable these birds in the sky are to failure of components and the forces of the universe (geez, this is starting to sound like Star Wars 10 or something). It would be no big deal if it were easy to point customers to a different satellite...but it is a fairly complex and somewhat costly maneuver in most cases. In defense of the satellite owners......Intelsat launched G 18 on May 21 and had it operational 13 days later on June 3, which might be a record, and demonstrates how quickly problems can be corrected by satellite owners.
In the very near future there will be reasonably priced fixed-automatic dishes (Motorized Earth Station Antennas) available that will enable customers to switch satellites literally with the press of a button (and a quick phone call). The dish will be stationary in location, but capable of tracking a satellite and locking on. This will revolutionize bandwidth pricing for many and prevent long outages in the event a satellite has a problem. Satellites formerly relegated to the satellite "junk yard" that are on inclined orbits (orbits that require some tracking by the dish to stay locked on) will spring back to life at very low bandwidth costs for those utilizing this new type of satellite dish. I predict that those using fixed-automatic dishes will be able to surf for about 50% of the current costs. Pricing will be in the $3,500-$5000+ range depending on dish size.
In March, SES Americom satellite AMC 14 (totally leased to EchoStar/Dish Network) failed to reach the correct orbit to have maximum useful life. The options are to use fuel on board to get to the right orbit (reducing the total life of the bird) or leave it where it is and reduce the number of HDTV channels it is able to handle. Both options are a setback to Dish Network, who is struggling to compete with DirecTV.
Another of the SES Americom satellites, AMC 4, has recently been slated to be taken out of service at it's original slot by an unknown issue with several transponders. SES Americom has moved AMC 2 into the "slot" taken by AMC 4 at 101 degrees W. and most domestic customers have service. Since AMC 2 is not as powerful as AMC 4, it has not able to accommodate all of the customers - ie some folks with smaller dishes and outside the U.S. are still in the dark.
Separately, IntelSat will be forced to move a satellite (G 18) over to the slot currently occupied by G10R at 123 degrees W. G10R has developed propulsion issues and will not be able to stay in geo-orbit much longer. G10R does have enough fuel to stay in orbit until this switch takes place, so this change will likely be transparent to customers (the changeover was successful on June 3, 2008). After the changeover to G 18, G10R will be shut off and allowed to crash into the sea.
These three situations point out how vulnerable these birds in the sky are to failure of components and the forces of the universe (geez, this is starting to sound like Star Wars 10 or something). It would be no big deal if it were easy to point customers to a different satellite...but it is a fairly complex and somewhat costly maneuver in most cases. In defense of the satellite owners......Intelsat launched G 18 on May 21 and had it operational 13 days later on June 3, which might be a record, and demonstrates how quickly problems can be corrected by satellite owners.
In the very near future there will be reasonably priced fixed-automatic dishes (Motorized Earth Station Antennas) available that will enable customers to switch satellites literally with the press of a button (and a quick phone call). The dish will be stationary in location, but capable of tracking a satellite and locking on. This will revolutionize bandwidth pricing for many and prevent long outages in the event a satellite has a problem. Satellites formerly relegated to the satellite "junk yard" that are on inclined orbits (orbits that require some tracking by the dish to stay locked on) will spring back to life at very low bandwidth costs for those utilizing this new type of satellite dish. I predict that those using fixed-automatic dishes will be able to surf for about 50% of the current costs. Pricing will be in the $3,500-$5000+ range depending on dish size.
posted by Randy Scott at 1:44 PM
