Indian Space Agency Successfully Decommissions Communication Satellite to Avoid Collision

Space debris has become a real concern for space exploration agencies worldwide. According to estimates, there are 7,200 artificial satellites in total orbiting Earth and 27,000 pieces of man-made debris caught in orbit.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully decommissioned a 14-year-old communication satellite, INSAT-4B, which provided services in the Ku and C frequency bands.

Before starting the process, the bandwidth payload services such as DTH were seamlessly migrated to other geostationary satellites.

The ISRO said that decommissioning was completed, in accordance with UN space debris mitigation guidelines.

According to guidelines, any geostationary satellites should be raised to a nearly circular orbit well above the Geo belt to prevent its orbit from returning into the GEO-protected region within 100 years of re-orbiting. In the case related to the 3,025 kg INSAT-4B, the minimum orbit to which it was required to be raised was 273km.

“The finally achieved orbit is about 340km above Geo altitude in perfect compliance with Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) guidelines for space debris mitigation of Geo objects,” the ISRO said on Tuesday, adding INSAT-4B was the 21st Indian Geo satellite to undergo post-mission disposal.

The decommissioning was achieved after 11 re-orbiting manoeuvres executed between 17 and 23 January 2022.

The agency used the required propellant for such re-orbiting so that the satellite could be removed safely from orbit and avoid endangering any orbiting satellites.

Space observers have recently claimed that a Space-X rocket navigating deep space since 2015 is expected to crash-land on the Moon on 4 March.

The Falcon-9 could not return to Earth as the rocket's fuel ran out soon after the second stage.