Geostationary telecommunication satellite “Express-80” of the Russian state-owned company “Space Communication”, which, according to a source RIA Novosti, was damaged in space, was located at the calculated standing point with a “mystically bad reputation”, writes “Cable”.
According to the publication, this is not the first “satellite at 80 degrees East to experience problems.” Kabelshchik reminds that “the previous three spacecraft that worked or were launched at this point either stopped working (like Express-AM2 in 2009 and Express-MD1 [in 2013]), or simply did not make it up to this point, how big and extremely important for the development of digital broadcasting Express-AM4 [in 2012] ”.
“Even after the third accident, the industry started talking about the” curse of the 80th point, “and the current situation with the Express-80 satellite will definitely consolidate the mystically bad reputation of this orbital position,” the publication explains.
According to a RIA Novosti source, the Express-80 could get space debris. Another interlocutor of the agency noted that the engine remained intact, and the device continues to bring it to the operating point. He added that it will be possible to talk about the consequences of the accident when the satellite is at its operating point.
In January 2019, Dmitry Baranov, the general director of the Progress Rocket and Space Center, said that the Russian Earth remote sensing satellites “Resurs-P” No. 2 and No. 3 did not work due to electronics failure. “Firstly, the reason is technical, it has been generally established, but these things have not yet been legally formalized to the end, so this has not yet been brought into the media field. The reasons for the failures are, if we speak, so to speak, in general terms, in the failure of the electronic component base, “said the head of the enterprise.
