The authorities of USA have imposed a fine, the first of its kind, on a television satellites for having abandoned waste in spaceannounced the US telecommunications regulator.
The operator Dish received a fine of US$150,000 for not having “exorbitant correctly” a satellite called EchoStar-7, in orbit since 2002, according to a statement from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“This constitutes a novelty in the regulation of waste in space by the Commission, which has developed its efforts towards satellites,” adds the FCC.
According to the FCC, Dish had not respected the altitude agreed upon with the commission to place its geostationary satellite that was reaching the end of its life. This altitude, lower than the agreed one, “could pose problems with orbital debris.”
Dish committed in 2012 to raising the satellite’s altitude to 300 km above its operational trajectory, explains the FCC. But with fuel levels falling, the company was limited to taking its satellite to an altitude just over 120 km above its trajectory.
However, he denied the FCC’s claims.
“As the compliance office acknowledges in the settlement, the EchoStar-7 satellite was an older device (launched in 2002) that had been explicitly exempt from FCC regulations requiring minimum deorbiting,” a company spokesperson stated in a statement.
“Furthermore, the office has not reached any conclusion that EchoStar-7 posed safety concerns related to its orbital debris,” he added.
According to a specialized UN agency, there are half a million debris the size of a marble and 100 million pieces around a millimeter in orbit.
This debris is potentially hazardous to spacecraft.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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