A blog about Ruby, Rails and other Tech. Mostly.

18th May 2004, 11:55am

Satellite programmers forgot about gravity

This quote is from SSC's space diary:

An apparent fundamental guidance system error resulted in a Boeing 601-class communications satellite, Japan’s Space Communications Corporation Superbird A2, launched by an Atlas IIAS booster in April, reaching its operating station in geosynchronous orbit (GSO), with a reduced of load of residual propellant required for stationkeeping, resulting in a probable loss of operational lifetime at its 158degE orbital position in GSO. Space News says that after the Centaur upper stage on the Atlas had placed the satellite into its initial geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), a flight programme that had failed to take into account the gravity forces of the Earth and moon, dropped the GTO perigee to 100km from 200km, almost ending the mission with a premature re-entry.

Can you believe they "failed to take into account the gravity forces of the Earth and moon" ????

D'oh.