Thaicom 3 De-orbited

[george]

Thaicom 3 de-orbited

BANGKOK: -- Shin Satellite Plc yesterday immediately de-orbited its glitch-ridden Thaicom 3 broadcasting satellite, following its power loss, which affects its plan to tap the Middle East market.

However, the company's executive chairman Dumrong Kasemset denied that the de-orbit would affect the company's projected revenue this year as it has yet to include Thaicom 3 income's from the Middle East into the calculation.

He added during the teleconference with the presses that the company is also evaluating the deeper financial impact of the de-orbit incidence.

He said ShinSat de-orbited Thaicom 3 at approximately 01.37 am, due to the power loss to such extent that it could not provide further service. It de-orbited Thaicom 3 by moving it beyond its existing orbital slot of 50.5 Degrees East.

-- The Nation 2006-10-02

[Pink Mist]

Thaicom 3 de-orbited

BANGKOK: -- Shin Satellite Plc yesterday immediately de-orbited its glitch-ridden Thaicom 3 broadcasting satellite, following its power loss, which affects its plan to tap the Middle East market.

However, the company's executive chairman Dumrong Kasemset denied that the de-orbit would affect the company's projected revenue this year as it has yet to include Thaicom 3 income's from the Middle East into the calculation.

He added during the teleconference with the presses that the company is also evaluating the deeper financial impact of the de-orbit incidence.

He said ShinSat de-orbited Thaicom 3 at approximately 01.37 am, due to the power loss to such extent that it could not provide further service. It de-orbited Thaicom 3 by moving it beyond its existing orbital slot of 50.5 Degrees East.

-- The Nation 2006-10-02

de orbit ? who has to duck G?

[Wolfie]

The old Shin empire isn't having a good month really

som nam naa

[Crushdepth]

What exactly is a 'de-orbit'? Does that mean they burned it up or just parked it somewhere else?

[SoMeOnEnUlL]

To go out of orbit I guess.. but, why? Does satellite need the power to be in orbit?

Or, by de-orbiting, they want to catch it up on earth somewhere?

Edited October 2, 2006 by SoMeOnEnUlL

[sriracha john]

Is the satellite problem related to the loss of Thaksin's websites today as well?

bad month, indeed...

lose your job, your money is close to getting seized, your website shuts down, and now your satellite de-orbits....

[Tywais]

To go out of orbit I guess.. but, why? Does satellite need the power to be in orbit?

Or, by de-orbiting, they want to catch it up on earth somewhere?

De-orbiting is the process of decelerating the craft and allow either immediate reentry and burnup or a slower decay. Also, to stay in an orbit occasional correction 'burns' are sometimes needed to keep it there. Main reason for the de-orbit is it is a dead satellite and they are trying to control orbital garbage. The Mirs was de-orbited at the dismay of many scientists.

[Lannig]

Thaicom 3 was operating at less than half of its capacity since a major failure a few years ago anyway. A big thank you to the Alcatel guys in France who 'forgot' to inform Shin Satellite that the same model of satellite sold to a Gulf telco operator (I think) failed almost completely some time before. If shit can happen, it does happen, so Thaicom 3 eventually failed too. That caused a major headache to Shin Satellite, they had to relocate their customers to the older satellites that were pretty much full already... since the new Thaicom 4 aka. iPSTAR was experiencing delay after delay. Some say that was the reason for opening services in such a rush on Thaicom 4, not taking time to iron out bugs. That could have some relevance to the quality of service iPSTAR customers enjoy nowadays

The thing was really flawed from the beginning I guess. So much for Alcatel... but I was really amazed to read that they got the contract to build Thaicom 5 despite this. I'd bet the Thaicom folks really got a huge discount this time!

--Lannig

[Jai Dee]

ICT Permanent Secretary believes the discharge of Thaicom-3 will not cause difficulties in services

The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mr. Kraisorn Pornsuthee (ไกรสร พรสุธี), believes that the discharge of Thaicom-3 Satellite would not prompt service difficulties.

Mr. Kraisorn said that he does not know much about the details of the discharge. However, he is confident that no service difficulties would take place as Thaicom-5 Satellite is still operating. He also said that he will have to examine the contract with Shin Satellite Public Company Limited to see whether the insurance fee from the discharge of Thaicom-3 Satellite will be paid.

In regard to the operation of the new satellite, its orbit is set at 50.5. However, the ICT Ministry has not yet planned for further implementation or considered the concession of the new satellite.

Referring to the person who will be appointed as the new ICT Minister that the ICT Minister, Mr. Kraisorn said the new minister needs to be specialized in the field of information technology because he/she will watch over the ICT policies, adding that the minister can search for an IT specialist to be his/her consultant.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 04 October 2006

[Lannig]

ICT Permanent Secretary believes the discharge of Thaicom-3 will not cause difficulties in services

The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mr. Kraisorn Pornsuthee (ไกรสร พรสุธี), believes that the discharge of Thaicom-3 Satellite would not prompt service difficulties.

Mr. Kraisorn said that he does not know much about the details of the discharge.

Obviously no, he doesn't. At the very least customer dishes have to be aimed at the new satellite, which is not a trivial operation.

I don't know if any iPSTAR customers were on the ill-fated Thaicom3. If there are, I pity them.

--Lannig

[Ijustwannateach]

Yup- satellite orbits are not perfect and need corrections and additional power. Could this be a coverup of a simple malfunction (i.e. not a deliberate de-orbit but power is lost and the satellite comes down by default)?