Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#101

Post by psunavy03 » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:28 PM UTC

ahoka wrote: post #99

psunavy03 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you gave a company over to only engineers, it would also fail, just in a different way. Same with only HR, or any other field. MBAs are not the problem. Shitty MBAs and shitty leadership are the problem. MBAs aren't there to screw people over; they're there to sustainably run a company. Sure, the bad ones screw people over in the name of nickel-and-diming. But still. And no, I'm not an MBA . . .

Like the CEOs of Caterpillar, AMD, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft and Apple?

. . . who all still have CFOs, MBAs, and others reporting to them on the financial viability of the business.

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#102

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:28 PM UTC

milgrim wrote: post #30

schiffern wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know the Boeing connection is the most "sexy" cause, so people are probably going to run with it anyway, but I also have to wonder about a space debris collision. GEO is already quite polluted, and the "graveyard orbits" commonly used have been shown to be inadequate.[1] Can anyone tell whether (at 60 degrees East and at 4:30 UTC October 19) the satellite was passing through the intersection with the main plane of…

The more interesting part for me is that a satellite just exploded, that it's made by Boeing is just the cherry on top.

Cherry on top that propulsion issues are now problematic for Boeing satellites AND capsules. I wonder if there's a crossover in personnel in either engineering or management.

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#103

Post by panzagl » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:28 PM UTC

worstspotgain wrote: post #48

panzagl wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we'd know if the Russians detonated a nuke in orbit.

That's not the only kind of weapon.

So you're saying an untraceable ASAT attack is more likely than a micrometeor impact?

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#104

Post by moralestapia » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:30 PM UTC

Aachen wrote: post #59

moralestapia wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If you want to dismiss an argument, maybe do the math instead of saying "do the math" dismissively and inventing an arbitrary number without even saying across how much time that estimate is supposed to be (one in a billion, what, instantaneously? In the first hour?)

[flagged]

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#105

Post by fragmede » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:31 PM UTC

baud147258 wrote: post #51

psunavy03 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you gave a company over to only engineers, it would also fail, just in a different way. Same with only HR, or any other field. MBAs are not the problem. Shitty MBAs and shitty leadership are the problem. MBAs aren't there to screw people over; they're there to sustainably run a company. Sure, the bad ones screw people over in the name of nickel-and-diming. But still. And no, I'm not an MBA . . .

> If you gave a company over to only engineers, it would also fail, just in a different way Do you have an idea of what would be the failure mode(s)?

Intel under Andy Grove, Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes, Boeing under Muilenburg, and Nokia under Kallasvuo had various business issues under an engineer CEO.

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#106

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:35 PM UTC

api wrote: post #79

baud147258 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you gave a company over to only engineers, it would also fail, just in a different way Do you have an idea of what would be the failure mode(s)?

If engineers run the restaurant the food is excellent but the menu is confusing and there are no customers because nobody knows the restaurant exists. If sales/marketing runs the restaurant it's full but there is no food. The menu is beautiful and shows all kinds of dishes nobody knows how to make. If MBAs run the restaurant it's full of people paid to be there long enough to be counted and reported up to the investo…

This is a nice summation. If LLMs ever produce this kind of output, I'll buy into the tech is good.

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#107

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

stavros wrote: post #93

> “believe it is unlikely that the satellite will be recoverable.” Why do these announcements have to be so hedgy? The satellite is in twenty pieces, I'd think that with the probability of spontaneous reconstruction being so low, we're fairly safe to say "will not be recoverable".

Is it only in 20 pieces, or did 20 pieces break off? Sudden unscheduled disassembly can happen differently. The probability is that there are 20 pieces they are able to track and many many more pieces that are smaller

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#108

Post by Reubachi » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:37 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #43

nordsieck wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like WGS-10 is the closest. From Wikipedia, it looks like it's a USSF satellite launched in 2019 with a service life of 14 years. It provides wideband communications to DoD customers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-291

It's 0.3 degrees ahead in orbit. Which means the debris needs to speed up to collide. It's possible if the break-up was explosive, but most, if not all of the debris is more likely to stay at the same velocity or slow down.

How does one tell the dynamics of orbital objects/debris relative to forces acting on them? Is there a name for this type of field?

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#109

Post by vkazanov » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

api wrote: post #79

baud147258 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you gave a company over to only engineers, it would also fail, just in a different way Do you have an idea of what would be the failure mode(s)?

If engineers run the restaurant the food is excellent but the menu is confusing and there are no customers because nobody knows the restaurant exists. If sales/marketing runs the restaurant it's full but there is no food. The menu is beautiful and shows all kinds of dishes nobody knows how to make. If MBAs run the restaurant it's full of people paid to be there long enough to be counted and reported up to the investo…

Engineer would first try to build a cooking machine.

Re: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit

#110

Post by doodlebugging » Mon, Oct 21, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #8

How does a satellite break up in orbit? Was it struck by something?

We are at the beginning of the Orionid meteor shower so earth is now in the debris stream that creates that shower and has been for a couple days.

This could be a Boeing problem but it also could be due to an impact with a micrometeorite or other natural-origin space debris.

Enjoy the meteor shower if you have a chance.