SES Americom announced on Friday that it will not attempt to salvage its AMC-14 communication satellite, which was stranded in a lopsided orbit on March 15 after a Proton M upper stage shut down prematurely. Instead, the company will file a $150 million insurance claim.
“SES and Lockheed Martin have carefully examined all the available options for repositioning this satellite into its intended geostationary orbit,” said Edward Horowitz, President and CEO of SES Americom. “Unfortunately, none of those options would allow effective use of the spacecraft. The various repositioning scenarios presented carry unacceptable risks, and would result in a severely shortened life of the satellite. Therefore, we have no choice but to claim a total loss of the satellite with our insurers.”
Lockheed Martin built the satellite, which SES had completely leased to EchoStar. The American satellite television provider will file a separate $42 million insurance claim for its losses.
This was a busy week for launchers - and not an entirely successful one.
On Tuesday, the space shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit with its seven member crew. Despite some initial fears of a debris strike, a check turned up nothing of concern on the orbiter, which linked up with the International Space Station on Thursday.
That same day, an Atlas V placed a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base. This marked the first launch of the heavy-lift Atlas V from the California rocketport. Atlas V is built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
On Friday, the upper stage of a Proton M launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome malfunctioned during its second burn. The AMC-14 communications satellite was stranded in an elliptical transfer orbit with an apogee of 28,000 kilometers, far short of geosynchronous orbit.
Russian officials held out hope that the Lockheed-built DISH Network satellite could use its own engines to reach the proper orbit. The satellite’s owner, SES Americom, will need to make a decision about what to do.
Early Saturday morning, a Delta 2 rocket lit up the darkened skies as it blasted off from Cape Canaveral carrying a Block 2 GPS spacecraft. The rocket placed the Lockheed-built payload into a transfer orbit 68 minutes later. This was the second successful launch by ULA in as many days.
