Intense solar storms leave Intelsat’s Galaxy 15 satellite out of control: report

International satellite services firm Intelsat has lost control of one of its satellites after it was presumably disabled by space weather.

Intelsat is attempting to regain control of the Galaxy 15 broadcast satellite after a disruption on Friday (Aug. 19). Intelsat said that a geomagnetic storm likely “knocked out onboard electronics needed to communicate with the satellite,” according to a report from Spacenews.com(opens in new tab). 

“The satellite is otherwise operating nominally, keeping Earth pointing with all payload operations nominal,” Intelsat spokesperson Melissa Longo said in the report. Longo added that the company is offloading Galaxy 15 customers onto other satellites, after which it will “continue to try to regain command once they are off so we can eventually deorbit it.”

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