Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Shuttle to the rescue?

Almost certainly in an unreachable orbit

Movies and TV makes maneuvering in space look easy. In truth, it takes a lot of propellant to maneuver something as massive as the Shuttle. At launch, the Shuttle contains enough OMS propellant for about 1000 fps Delta V. Some of that is used for orbital insertion. Some is used for maneuvering for rendevous, and something like 400 fps is used for the deorbit burn. That doesn't leave a lot of propellant for other maneuvers.

The current Shuttle mission is in a 51.63 degree inclination but is almost certainly in the wrong orbital plane, so it wouldn't be able to get to the satellite. It takes a tremendous amount of propellant to change orbital planes. You really have to launch the Shuttle into the correct plane to have a chance to rendevous.

The current NORAD TLE for the Shuttle is:

STS 113
1 27556U 02052A 02329.91666667 .00033610 00000-0 41582-3 0 107
2 27556 51.6347 320.9169 0013234 179.4954 64.9598 15.59678579 277

Pertinent Elements:
Inclination: 51.6347
Right Ascension: 320.9169
Argument of Perigee: 179.4954

I don't have a reference to the Astra 1K's orbital elements, so I can't tell how far off the orbit is from the Shuttle & ISS. If I had to guess, I'd expect there's a significant difference in planes for launch safety reasons. It wouldn't be cool for a satellite being boosted to GEO to go blasting close to the ISS & Shuttle.

At 106 miles high, the satellite will probably burn in within a few weeks unless they fire the thrusters to boost the orbit. They can certainly do this and keep it up there for months or even years, giving NASA time to prepare for the mission. They could probably use a lot of the satellite's propellant to move it to a more compatible orbital plane for the Shuttle's current mission, but it'd have to be very close to the Shuttle & ISS's current plane for any chance of rendevous. Even then, they have to have the right training and equipment to do something for the satellite.

But then, we're back to the subject of cost. Who's going to pay that much for the mission? It costs several hundred million dollars for a Shuttle mission and that's a lot more than the satellite is worth.

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