{"id":509981,"date":"2024-12-10T17:26:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T22:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?p=509981"},"modified":"2024-12-10T21:11:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T02:11:18","slug":"intelsat-33e-demise-exposes-vulnerabilities-in-the-space-domain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/intelsat-33e-demise-exposes-vulnerabilities-in-the-space-domain\/","title":{"rendered":"Intelsat 33e demise exposes vulnerabilities in the space domain"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Intelsat 33e\u2019s break-up in geostationary orbit (GEO) highlights an emerging threat for the contested space domain, an executive at U.S.-based space-tracking company ExoAnalytic Solutions said Dec. 10 during the Spacepower Conference here.<\/p>

Clint Clark, ExoAnalytic Solutions chief growth officer and vice president of first impressions, said the company has identified a cloud of more than 700 pieces of debris following the Oct. 19 incident.<\/p>

ExoAnalytic Solutions identified 57 pieces of debris in the days following the break-up<\/a>, ranging from fragments the size of a softball to those the size of a car door. About week later, the number had risen to around 500<\/a>.<\/p>

\u201cIf that happened and you were planning for it as a bad guy, you could deploy anything you wanted at GEO in the noise that created,\u201d Clark warned, \u201cand you\u2019re gone, you are hidden\u201d from view.<\/p>

Boeing is still investigating what caused the second in a series of four EpicNG (next-generation) high throughput satellites it built for Intelsat to break up in orbit. <\/p>

Intelsat-29e, the first in the series, was declared a total loss in 2019 after what the companies said was either a meteoroid impact or a wiring flaw.<\/p>

Clark declined to comment on how adversaries could exploit the additional noise created from an event like Intelsat 33e\u2019s demise on the conference\u2019s sidelines.<\/p>

However, during a panel on emerging threats in space, he pointed to growing Chinese capabilities, including what have become routine maneuvers and close-up inspections of other satellites in geostationary orbit.<\/p>

\u201cChina doesn\u2019t sit still,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re all over the sky.\u201d<\/p>

ExoAnalytic Solutions has also tracked \u201cChina practicing tactics that look like \u2026 direct-ascent threats to GEO,\u201d he added.<\/p>

Speaking on the same panel, Chief Master Sgt. Ronald Lerch, senior enlisted advisor at the U.S. Space Force Headquarters\u2019 intelligence directorate, noted how the number of Chinese satellites has also grown from 36 in 2010 to more than a thousand.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cNorm-shattering behaviors have been enabled because of their ability to have space and what that\u2019s able to offer their capabilities and their forces,\u201d Lerch said, pointing to China\u2019s increasing encroachment in Taiwan.<\/p>

Meanwhile, the danger Intelsat-33e debris poses other spacecraft in orbit has greatly reduced over the last few months, Clark told SpaceNews<\/em>, even as ExoAnalytic Solutions continues to find more debris with its network of ground-based telescopes.<\/p>

He said the number of collision alerts the company sends out has stabilized to normal levels after spiking more than four times soon after the incident. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intelsat 33e\u2019s break-up in geostationary orbit highlights an emerging threat for the contested space domain, an executive at U.S.-based space-tracking company ExoAnalytic Solutions said Dec. 10 during the Spacepower Conference here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11009,"featured_media":509983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4149,4161],"tags":[790,2222,798,2621,12960],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[3507],"class_list":["post-509981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-militaryspace-archive","category-news-archive","tag-boeing","tag-exoanalytic-solutions","tag-intelsat","tag-space-force","tag-spacepower","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nIntelsat 33e demise exposes vulnerabilities in the space domain - 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