A satellite named Intelsat 33e exploded in space, and nobody knows what caused this. Intelsat, the service provider of the satellite, confirmed it stopped working and called it a “total loss”.
“We are coordinating with the satellite manufacturer, Boeing, and government agencies to analyze data and observations,” Intelsat said. It is currently setting up a board to study the cause of this anomaly.
The US Space Force has confirmed this development, mentioning “the breakup of Intelsat 33E (#41748, 2016-053B) in GEO on October 19, 2024, at approximately 0430 UTC. Currently tracking around 20 associated pieces – analysis ongoing. S4S has observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain.”
This indicates that the satellite Intelsat 33E has disintegrated into at least 20 pieces, which could be considered a threat to other satellites near it.
Intelsat 33E, a Boeing-designed satellite, was sent to space in 2016 and entered service in 2017. It was responsible for providing communications to the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and the damage to this satellite will affect several customers in the aforementioned markets.
Boeing has been in a bad light for a while now. It started with the Starliner, which faced several technical challenges while docking with the International Space Station (ISS) and left two astronauts stranded there. These astronauts––Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore––will return in February on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Along with SpaceX, Boeing won the contract to design, develop, and deploy reusable spacecraft for carrying astronauts to and from the ISS.
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