MEASAT-3 Satellite Drifting In An Uncontrolled Geostationary Orbit, Likely To Be A Total Loss

It seems like the anomalies that initially cropped up on MEASAT-3 on 21st June 2021 which caused channel outages for Astro and rural broadband service CONNECTme customers throughout the country has now escalated to a possible total loss on the ageing satellite. The satellite which is a Boeing 601 craft, was launched in December 2006 and was scheduled to be replaced with MEASAT-3d in 2022.

MEASAT, in a statement released earlier today maintain that they still have command and control of MEASAT-3, but confirm that all services on the troubled satellite are now being handled by co-located MEASAT and other third-party satellites serving the region.

MEASAT fleet of satellites are positioned on the 91.5 degrees East orbital hotslot, but MEASAT-3 started drifting out of this position on June 22nd. By July 10th, it was already at 86.4 degrees East, and today it has drifted even further at 84.69 degrees East. Experts in this field conclude that it is rare to see a satellite recover from this stage of degradation.

MEASAT-3 covered Asia, Australia, Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East with C-band and Malaysia, Indonesia and South Asia with Ku-band services.

(Source: SpaceNews, Advanced Television, CelesTrak. Image: Boeing.)

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