Telesat Canada experiences more power problems on another satellite

Telesat Canada staff will take several weeks working with Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems to determine the cause of a power malfunction on its new Nimiq 2 satellite. The bus, a Lockheed Martin A2100, experienced a failure on February 20 that temporarily knocked out several of its Ku-band transponders, temporarily affecting Bell ExpressVu LP's satellite television service.At the height of the failure, only 24 transponders were operational, but Telesat engineers quickly restored the bird to 28 transponders on the same day of the malfunction, and restored two more the next day. The satellite has a total of 32 Ku-band transponders.In the meantime, while Telesat and Lockheed's teams investigate, all traffic on Nimiq 2 has been transferred to Nimiq 1, which was moved to the 91 degrees west orbital slot from its previous slot at 82 degrees west after Nimiq 2's recent launch.The failure of the A2100 bird comes as a surprise to some industry analysts, who stress along with Telesat that the vehicle has an excellent track record compared to some models. "It would be a real tragedy if this were a serious problem, because this has been an excellent vehicle for (Lockheed Martin)," says one analyst speaking on background.Compared to some other large satellites, the A2100 has seen far fewer insurance claims for losses associated with it. Between 1996 and April of 2002, for instance, the A2100 has approximately US$300 million in claims associated with it, while the rival and comparably-sized Boeing Satellite Systems 702 has seen approximately US$950 million in claims.In fact, Telesat has now made an undisclosed claim in connection with a power malfunction on its Anik F1, a Boeing 702 model, which will be knocked out of commission as early as mid-2005, seven years ahead of schedule (RoW, Nov. 25/02).Both the 702 and A2100 are very large satellites that tend to have anomalies in higher proportion than small birds, and industry watchers have seen a trend recently toward the purchase of smaller vehicles. Telesat has opted to replace the malfunctioning Anik F1 with a new Anik F1R purchased from Astrium, and the new bus will be a smaller E3000 model, patterned on the reliable Eurostar design. It will have 24 C-band transponders and 32 Ku-band transponders, but will have only 10 kW of spacecraft power at the end of its 15-year life.While the purchase fits with a trend toward smaller, more reliable designs, Telesat VP and treasurer Ted Ignacy says that had little to do with the decision."It was really a question of us asking what it is that we needed in space, and then right-sizing the spacecraft for our communication needs," he tells Report on Wireless. He notes that the Anik F1R will replace only the North American payload currently on the Anik F1, and that a big 702 or A2100 bus isn't necessary since the new satellite will have 32 fewer transponders.Ignacy says it will be several weeks before Telesat knows what happened to the Nimiq 2, or what the full impact of the anomaly will be.

Telesat Canada experiences more power problems on another satellite

News | 03/04/2003 5:00 am EST

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