Intelsat has reported the total loss of the Intelsat 33e satellite. The announcement follows the outage the company reported earlier on October 19. The Intelsat 33e satellite broke up in geostationary orbit (GEO) and lost power, ceasing communications services for customers across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia Pacific.
The company said it is working with government agencies to analyse data and observations, and has set up a Failure Review Board to investigate the anomaly’s cause. An Intelsat spokesperson said the satellite was not insured at the time of the issue. The US Space Force reported that it was tracking around 20 pieces of debris associated with the spacecraft. In the meatime, Intelsat said it is working to move customers to other satellites in Intelsat’s fleet or spacecraft operated by third parties.
Intelsat 33e launched in August 2016 and entered service in January 2017 at 60 degrees East, about three months later than planned following an issue with its primary thruster. Intelsat 33e is the second in Intelsat’s EpicNG (next-generation) series of high-throughput satellites.
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