Air Force makes tiny course corrections to save big satellite
- By Defense Systems Staff
- Jan 04, 2012
The Air Force spent 14 months frantically making hundreds of of tiny course adjustments that helped save its crippled $2 billion Advanced Extremely High Frequency 1 communications satellite,
Wired's Danger Room reports.
After the satellite drifted because of mechanical problems, space operators used its small thrusters to make 450 small source corrections that saved the craft from a useless orbit, the article said, noting that they worked around the clock while being fueled by a steady supply of pizzas.
The Air Force plans to bring the satellite into service in March, and its loss would have been a major blow to efforts to revamp the Defense Department's communications infrastructure, the story said.