The cloud of debris after the explosion of the Intelsat 33e satellite has grown to 500 fragments – the threat to other devices is growing

ExoAnalytic reports that the number of pieces of debris being tracked from the Earth-orbiting breakup of Intelsat 33e has increased from 20 to about 500. Most of them are at the lower end of the size scale, which starts “from a football to a car door.” The cloud of debris scatters across orbit and cannot yet be reliably classified, so it continues to pose a threat to other satellites in an orbit at an altitude of about 33 thousand km.

Image source: AI generation Kandinsky 3.1/3DNews

The communications satellite Intelsat 33e unexpectedly collapsed on October 19, 2024. This is the second satellite in a series of four EpicNG satellites to cease operation. All four satellites are manufactured by Boring on the 702 MP bus. The first satellite in this series, Intelsat 29e, was launched in 2016 and was declared lost in 2019. The Intelsat 33e satellite entered service in 2017. Due to problems with the engines, its expected service life of 15 years was reduced by 3.5 years. It appears that the explosion of the engines or fuel tank caused its destruction, but the investigation into this case is just beginning to gain momentum.

Preliminary findings suggest that the satellite could either have been hit by a meteorite, or that solar activity caused a discharge of static electricity in the wiring, causing the explosion. At the same time, the analysis of the accident with the first satellite did not find any reason to fear for the fate of other devices in this series. Two other EpicNG satellites were launched into space in 2017, respectively by SpaceX (Intelsat 35e) and Arianespace (Intelsat 37e). Intelsat is currently moving customers to other satellite platforms, including competing ones: “The process is in full swing, support and understanding are there from all sides.”

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For the Boring company, it seems that the collapse of its communications satellite was the last straw that broke the patience of management and investors. Shortly after this event, a leak emerged that Boring was considering selling or winding down part of its space business.