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A comment on DirecTV races to decommission broken satellite before it explodes. Parent comment

Re:DirecTV races to decommission broken satellite before it ... by penagwin on Friday January 24, 2020 @10:52AM (#22139261)
Keep in mind to do garbage collecting you are essentially trying to intercept high-speed objects that likely have no telemetry. If your speed and orbit aren't correct, or if there's shrapnel or other debris, you'll destroy your ship.

And you can only pickup garbage that's in a similar orbit too.

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Re:DirecTV races to decommission broken satellite before it ... by greglindahl on Friday January 24, 2020 @02:13PM (#22141453)
We're talking about the graveyard orbit, which is not far from geosynchronous orbit.

In fact there's such an intercept being done soon, the mission extension vehicle (MEV) is going to rendezvous with an old but still controlled satellite in order to extend its useful life. This rendezvous is being done in the graveyard orbit in case something goes wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Extension_Vehicle

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