Yamal-201, a communication satellite developed by Russian satellite operator
and developer Gazprom Space Systems, failed in June after its transponder
ceased to operate resulting in a total loss of communication. It has since been
falling in space, heading slowly westwards towards an area which is occupied by
a number of global operators’ geostationary satellites.
Travelling at approximately 0.025 degrees per day from the satellite’s original
orbital position at 90 degrees of eastern longitude means that it is due to reach
this key area, which lies about 75 degrees East, in an estimated 400 days.
Thaicom, a Thai satellite operator, INSAT-2E, operated by the Indian Space
Research Organisation as well as Europe’s Intelsat and Inmarsat satellite
communications companies have satellites which are situated in its path.
Following the 2009 collision between the working Iridium satellite and Cosmos,
a non-functioning Russian military communications satellite, important policies
were put in place to address the increasingly concerning issue of space debris.
Typically, once a satellite reaches the end of its lifetime, it is sent a few hundred
kilometres above the geostationary orbit. In the case of the Yamal-201, an 11-year-old spacecraft, this would have been scheduled for 2015.
