{"id":11889,"date":"2021-01-29T00:05:41","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T16:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/engineers-analyze-failure-on-siriusxm-satellite-launched-from-florida-last-month\/"},"modified":"2021-01-29T00:05:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T16:05:41","slug":"engineers-analyze-failure-on-siriusxm-satellite-launched-from-florida-last-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/engineers-analyze-failure-on-siriusxm-satellite-launched-from-florida-last-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineers analyze failure on SiriusXM satellite launched from Florida last month"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Artist\u2019s illustration of the SXM 7 satellite with its solar panels and S-band antenna deployed. Credit: Maxar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ground teams are evaluating a payload failure on a Maxar-built SiriusXM radio broadcasting satellite that launched from Cape Canaveral in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

SiriusXM and Maxar officials did not disclose the cause of the problem with the SXM 7 satellite, but SiriusXM said the failure will not adversely impact its radio broadcast service .<\/p>\n

Built by Maxar in Palo Alto, California, the SXM 7 satellite successfully launched Dec. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit, then used its on-board engine to reach an orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n

SiriusXM announced the \u201cfailure of certain SXM 7 payload units\u201d in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn evaluation of SXM 7 is underway,\u201d the company said. \u201cThe full extent of the damage to SXM 7 is not yet known.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Maxar spokesperson said the company\u2019s teams are \u201cworking closely with SiriusXM to diagnose the problem and evaluate any potential damage to the satellite and its mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus remains on safely completing the commissioning of the satellite and optimizing its performance,\u201d the Maxar spokesperson said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Neither company answered questions about which payload units failed during in-orbit testing of the SXM 7 satellite, which SiriusXM said began Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

Once in geostationary orbit, the SXM 7 satellite \u2014 based on Maxar\u2019s 1300-series spacecraft design \u2014 was expected to unfurl a large deployable S-band antenna made by L3Harris to broadcast radio signals to receivers SiriusXM\u2019s customers. The S-band reflector is required for the satellite to beam high-power signals to users with small terminals on the ground, such as satellite radio receivers on cars.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if the S-band antenna might be at fault for SXM 7\u2019s woes. The failure is not related to the satellite\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Dec. 13 with the SXM 7 satellite. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maxar said last year that it discovered an \u201canomaly\u201d during a test on one of the company\u2019s commercial satellite programs. While Maxar never publicly confirmed the identify of the satellite, it is believed to have been SiriusXM\u2019s SXM 7 spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Dan Jablonsky, Maxar\u2019s president and CEO, said in an earnings call with investment analysts last May that the company set aside $14 million for \u201crework\u201d on the unspecified commercial satellite. Ground testing uncovered an \u201c<\/span>undetected issue with a design that goes back over two years, but is just now surfacing and final testing,\u201d Jablonsky said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the earnings call last May, Jablonsky said the problem was unique to a particular satellite program and design.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the earnings call for the following quarter last August, Jablonsky said the $14 million Maxar designated to address the satellite test anomaly was \u201csufficient,\u201d and added that Maxar was \u201c<\/span>looking forward to getting the satellite shipped and launched.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the August conference call, the SXM 7 satellite was the only Maxar-built spacecraft due to ship to its launch site before the end of 2020. And the unique design of the SXM 7 satellite, with its large deployable antenna, also fit with Jablonsky\u2019s statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

A twin SiriusXM satellite named SXM 8, also manufactured by Maxar, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket later this year.<\/p>\n

SXM 7 was expected to replace the XM 3 radio broadcasting satellite at 85 degrees west longitude, officials said last year. The Boeing-built XM 3 satellite launched in 2005 aboard a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL rocket.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The SXM 7 radio broadcasting satellite. Credit: Maxar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSXM 7 was intended to supplement the existing fleet of SiriusXM satellites,\u201d said Kevin Bruns, a SiriusXM spokesperson, in a statement Wednesday. \u201cOur XM 3 and XM 4 satellites are healthy and fully operational, and are expected to support our satellite radio service for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiriusXM also operates the XM 5 satellite as an in-orbit spare, which is capable of supplementing the SiriusXM satellite fleet,\u201d Bruns said.<\/p>\n

With SXM 7 and SXM 8, SiriusXM said last month its radio broadcast service would be secured through at least 2036.<\/p>\n

SiriusXM said Wednesday that it purchased $225 million in insurance policies covering the SXM 7 satellite through launch and the first year of in-orbit operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have notified the underwriters of these policies of a potential claim with respect to SXM 7,\u201d SiriusXM said.<\/p>\n

Maxar said its contract with SiriusXM for the construction of the SXM 7 satellite include \u201cindustry-standard provisions,\u201d including the \u201ctransfer of risk of loss upon launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist\u2019s illustration of the SXM 7 satellite with its solar panels and S-band antenna deployed. Credit: Maxar Ground teams are evaluating a payload failure on a Maxar-built SiriusXM radio broadcasting satellite that launched from Cape Canaveral in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Wednesday. SiriusXM and Maxar officials did not disclose the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,479,231,1084,1900,1901,316,1902],"class_list":["post-11889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-falcon-9","tag-insurance","tag-maxar","tag-maxar-1300","tag-sirius-xm","tag-spacex","tag-sxm-7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}