Galaxy 15
Galaxy 15 is an American telecommunications satellite which is owned by Intelsat. It was launched for and originally operated by PanAmSat, and was subsequently transferred to Intelsat when the two companies merged in 2006. It was originally positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 133° West, from where it was used to provide communication services to North America.
| Mission type | Communication Navigation |
|---|---|
| Operator | PanAmSat (2005–2006) Intelsat (2006-) |
| COSPAR ID | 2005-041A |
| SATCAT no. | 28884 |
| Mission duration | 15 years (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | GEOStar-2 |
| Manufacturer | Orbital Sciences |
| Launch mass | 2,033 kilograms (4,482 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | October 13, 2005, 22:32 UTC |
| Rocket | Ariane 5GS |
| Launch site | Kourou ELA-3 |
| Contractor | Arianespace |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Geostationary |
| Longitude | 133° West |
| Perigee altitude | 35,764 kilometres (22,223 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 35,779 kilometres (22,232 mi) |
| Inclination | 0.062 degrees |
| Period | 23 hours 56 minutes |
| Transponders | |
| Band | 24 G/H band (IEEE C band) 2 C/D band (IEEE L band) |
In April 2010, Intelsat lost control of the satellite, and it began to drift away from its orbital slot, with the potential to cause disruption to other satellites in its path. On 27 December 2010, Intelsat reported that the satellite had rebooted as per design and the command unit was responding to commands again. In addition, the satellite had been secured in safe mode and the potential for interference issues from Galaxy 15 had ceased. Intelsat repositioned Galaxy 15 back to its original location on April 4, 2011.
On 10 August 2022, Intelsat again lost control of Galaxy 15 attributing this to a space weather event.