Air Force loses contact with weather satellite

The Air Force has lost contact with the DSMP-19 weather satellite. It was launched in April 2014 and had functioned with no problems until February 11. The satellite is used to predict weather that may affect military operations.

Operators noticed a problem with the RF receive subsystem when they attempted to log into the satellite. DSMP-17 has been moved from a backup role to cover the mission until they determine if -19 can be recovered.

spacenews.com...

At least give me something, aliens snatched
It, North Korea shot it down, end of the world cause hit by incoming comet, something. Lol

a reply to: Zaphod58

I wonder, if they cannot recover it remotely, whether they will elect to scrap the object, or have someone EVA to it in order to repair it. My assumption is that if it is unrecoverable from the ground in its current state, they will probably elect to scrap the item, and leave it to destabilise on its own, with inevitable Newtonian results. I assume this, because getting a manned mission out to work on a defence satellite would be tricky at the moment, what with the Russians being an integral part of NASAs ability to loft manned missions just at present.

That is, unless Mr Musk, or other captains of space industry, can be persuaded to provide solutions to the problem, using their formidable resources.

a reply to: TrueBrit

send up someone up with a book on human history.. attach it.. then push it off so it floats for ever off into space until someone somewhere grabs and reads of us

a reply to: Agit8dChop

Well, our television and radio transmissions have already broadcast a huge amount of data, over quite a distance, as an unintended consequence of passing that data from earthly location to earthly location, so that might be somewhat superfluous.

originally posted by: Agit8dChop
a reply to: TrueBrit

send up someone up with a book on human history.. attach it.. then push it off so it floats for ever off into space until someone somewhere grabs and reads of us

As TrueBrit says, we have been broadcasting our presence since the first radio was invented. Havet you read or watched Contact?

As for the sat, are there even any option to recover it these days? The shuttle is out of action and the ISS isnt going to move to get it...its a goner if they cant re-establish contact.

I think that's code for:

'Our spy satellite got shot down'.

a reply to: 3danimator2014

Well, that depends on how stable its current orbit is, how long it can remain aloft and stable without course correction, and whether there are any on board systems to automatically adjust its orbit without ground assistance, in the event of marginal decay.

If it has the capacity to remain aloft for an extended period, it might be possible to get something done in the next few years, although it would involve the development of something a little more ambitious than a dragon capsule or similar. There are private options available to the US government, if they should decide that it would be worth recovering, but they all involve a certain amount of either private, or foreign involvement with the delivery of maintenance crew to the object involved. Personally, I think its a loss at this point. The military have a metric boatload of satellites up there, and unless this particular satellite has something than none of the others can replicate in terms of performance or placement, then I doubt it will be considered worth launching a mission to recover, given that a new vehicle might need to be developed in order to get crew to it to perform recovery.

Lets face it, the thing is hardly the Kepler telescope, is it?

a reply to: GodEmperor

If that were the case satellite trackers would have seen debris by ml now.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: 3danimator2014

Well, that depends on how stable its current orbit is, how long it can remain aloft and stable without course correction, and whether there are any on board systems to automatically adjust its orbit without ground assistance, in the event of marginal decay.

If it has the capacity to remain aloft for an extended period, it might be possible to get something done in the next few years, although it would involve the development of something a little more ambitious than a dragon capsule or similar. There are private options available to the US government, if they should decide that it would be worth recovering, but they all involve a certain amount of either private, or foreign involvement with the delivery of maintenance crew to the object involved. Personally, I think its a loss at this point. The military have a metric boatload of satellites up there, and unless this particular satellite has something than none of the others can replicate in terms of performance or placement, then I doubt it will be considered worth launching a mission to recover, given that a new vehicle might need to be developed in order to get crew to it to perform recovery.

Lets face it, the thing is hardly the Kepler telescope, is it?

LOL, no. I cant see anyone rushing to build a new shuttle for this. I assume everything in orbit needs the occasional boost to stay up there? Is there anything man made that is in "perfect" orbit? I know the ISS fights against a tiny amount of air, but weather sats tend to be much higher up.

if this is a weather sat of course

originally posted by: GodEmperor
I think that's code for:

'Our spy satellite got shot down'.

No one is shooting satellites. That would cause a problem for everyone. Just like how we all breathe the same air, we all share the same orbits.

If they can re-establish contact temporarily, they might elect to de-orbit it deliberately to avoid further problems.

a reply to: 3danimator2014

Well, thats just the thing with this satellite.

If they did send something up there to connect to and repair it, it would indicate to me that there is a little more to the doodad than we are lead to believe by those to whom it falls to describe such objects to the masses.

In terms of the manner in which its orbit is maintained, from what I understand of it, modern satellites have the capacity to make certain course corrections automatically, because they are programmed for a certain task, over a certain period, and will maintain their ability to remain on station for the duration of that task. Some may even be programmed to certain default orbits, in the event of something like this coming to pass, somewhat similar to the way a drone may be programmed to return to its launch area if it passes out of signal range, or alternatively pilot itself safely to the ground.

However, the ground control element is there so that the satellite can be commanded to come off station in one place, and look down on a new one, or just re-align itself in order to observe a different area than it was focused on before. Basically, because they are no longer receiving data from the craft, or able to affect its orbit either, they are looking at a situation where not only do they have no idea what is happening with the satellite, but they cannot use it either, both of which are quite worrying.

Although this is supposed to be a weather satellite, I can see how important it would be for air force chiefs to be able to plan for the weather, what with the fact that their sphere of operations is basically dependent on a certain range of atmospheric conditions, and foreknowledge of them. I would not be surprised however, to learn that the satellite had a bit more going on with it than a glorified Met Office uplink.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Theoretically, depending on what is wrong and orbit, the X-37 could rendezvous with it and attempt any very simple repairs. I doubt it would be something it could fix, but it would be a good proof of concept that it could do it.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: TrueBrit

Theoretically, depending on what is wrong and orbit, the X-37 could rendezvous with it and attempt any very simple repairs. I doubt it would be something it could fix, but it would be a good proof of concept that it could do it.

Does the X-37 have a bay that they could bring something back in?

a reply to: 3danimator2014

Don't think so.

The satellites are 14 feet long, the X37b is 30

Well I do wonder if these facts play into the true cause? And that being an EMP from Planet X..

Blackouts, plane electrical failures have become much more frequent and also not to mention that other satellites have fallen back to Earth..

For anyone who has followed the magnetosphere data (myself for two years) would notice the compressions and eddys have been increasing exponentially, more so in earnest since January 2015 all this occurring while the sun is silent!

Here's our culprit for EMPs, been observing this for two years!

a reply to: 3danimator2014

It has a bay, but only for small cargo. It has an arm that could do some manipulation if it was something like a bent antenna or something.

a reply to: EndOfDays77

Well I do wonder if these facts play into the true cause? And that being an EMP from Planet X..

An EMP that affected a single satellite?

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: 3danimator2014

Don't think so.

The satellites are 14 feet long, the X37b is 30

F*ck thats a big satellite. I always assume they are much smaller.