Xref: utzoo sci.space:22865 sci.space.shuttle:5987
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Intelsat salvage mission
Message-ID: <1990Aug11.033954.12002@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1990Aug9.051409.16353@zoo.toronto.edu> <13567@ulysses.att.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 90 03:39:54 GMT

In article <13567@ulysses.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>I'm a bit confused.  I've seen no mention of refueling the stranded
>satellite's maneuvering engines.  I know they used a lot of fuel to
>stabilize the orbit, and given that fuel supply is often the limiting
>factor on the lifetime of such satellites I'd think they'd want to
>do something about that.  Does anyone have any more information?

There has been no mention of refueling, and I suspect they aren't going
to do it -- the satellite is not designed to be refuelled in space, and
NASA has never tried that sort of thing.  (The Soviets do it all the
time, but they learned how during space-station operations, something
NASA has yet to attempt.)  My guess would be that the fuel remaining
is sufficient for a good useful lifetime, albeit perhaps a somewhat
shorter one than intended.
-- 
It is not possible to both understand  | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
and appreciate Intel CPUs. -D.Wolfskill|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry