In a triumph for the nascent industry of “satellite servicing,” an aging communications satellite has returned to service in geostationary orbit.
Northrop Grumman announced Friday that its Mission Extension Vehicle-1, or MEV-1, has restored the Intelsat (satellite and relocated it into a position to resume operations.)
“We see increased demand for our connectivity services around the world, and preserving our customers’ experience using innovative technology such as MEV- 1 is helping us meet that need, ”Intelsat Chief Services Officer Mike DeMarco said in a news release.
After launching on a Proton rocket last October, Northrop Grumman’s servicing vehicle used its mechanical docking system to latch onto Intelsat (on February) ,
Since then, the MEV-1 servicer has assumed navigation of the combined spacecraft stack, reducing the satellite’s inclination by 1.6 degrees and relocating it to a new orbital location, at 332. 5 ° east. Intelsat then transitioned about 36 of its commercial and government customers to the satellite two weeks ago. The transition of service took approximately six hours and was successful.
Based on the agreement between Northrop and Intelsat, MEV-1 will provide five years of life extension services to the satellite before moving it into a graveyard orbit. MEV-1 will then be available to provide additional mission extension services, Northrop said, including orbit raising, inclination corrections, and inspections. Northrop is already building a second MEV to service another Intelsat satellite, 2020, later this year.
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