PARIS - The
Eutelsat W2M telecommunications satellite - the inaugural product of a
Euro-Indian commercial joint venture - has failed in orbit just five weeks
after launch and is likely a total loss, industry officials said.
Paris-based
Eutelsat, in a Jan. 28 statement, confirmed that W2M, launched
Dec. 20, suffered "a major anomaly affecting the satellite's power
subsystem" and would not fulfill its role of replacing Eutelsat's W2
satellite at the company's 16 degrees east orbital position.
The W2
satellite at that orbital slot continues to work well, but is nearly 11 years
old. Eutelsat said it now will replace W2 with the much larger W3B satellite
scheduled for launch in mid-2010.
The
immediate problem for Eutelsat is that the company it had customers waiting to
use the failed W2M satellite who cannot be placed on the aging
capacity-constrained W2 spacecraft. Once operational, the W2M would have
increased Eutelsat's capacity at 16 degrees east to 30 transponders from the
current 27.
"Eutelsat
is analyzing options using its existing in-orbit resources for meeting the
requirements of clients who were expected to benefit from the increased
capacity on W2M in comparison to W2," Eutelsat said in its statement.
The
satellite is the latest
to fail in space in recent weeks. On Jan. 15, the SES Luxemburg-owned
telecommunications satellite Astra 5A failed after 12 years in Earth orbit. An
update released by NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office this month reported
that the Soviet-era Cosmos 1818 satellite, which launched in 1987 with its own
nuclear reactor, is breaking
apart in orbit.
W2M is the
first satellite to be launched as part of a joint venture formed in February
2006, with the blessing of the French and Indian governments, of Astrium
Satellites of Europe and Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).
The joint
venture's ambition is to offer a low-cost alternative to satellites at the
lower end of the power and weight range of commercial telecommunications
satellites. It is a market niche that has been exploited most successfully in
recent years by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.
The
Astrium-Antrix joint venture has sold a second satellite, to Avanti
Communications Group of London, whose Hylas consumer-broadband satellite is
nearing completion.
Avanti
Chief Executive said Jan. 28 through a spokeswoman that the Avanti satellite
does not use the components suspected of causing the failure on W2M.
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