Intelsat suffered the second satellite failure when its IS-804 satellite went dark on Jan. 14 at 5:32 p.m. Intelsat Spokeswoman Jodi Katz told Satellite Today that the satellite, which offered telecommunications and media delivery services in the South Pacific, was used by about 80 customers and most have already been relocated to other satellites and their service restored. She noted that all IS-804 customers have been offered alternative capacity. Katz added that unlike the recent Intelsat Americas-7 blink, Intelsat “does not believe restoration [of the IS-804 satellite] is possible at this time.” The Intelsat Americas-7 satellite went dark on Nov. 28, 2004, but service was restored about a week later.

The IS-804 satellite is a Lockheed Martin 7000 series satellite. The company said the satellite experienced an unexpected electrical power system anomaly, causing the total loss of the spacecraft. Katz said Intelsat and Lockheed Martin are working together to determine what exactly caused the catastrophic failure. Katz said that there are three more satellites that share a similar design in Intelsat’s satellite constellation and those spacecraft are operating normally. The failures of the IS-804 and the Intelsat Americas-7 satellite are unrelated as the two spacecraft are of different designs and were built by different manufacturers (IA-7 was built by Space Systems/Loral)

At press time, Katz did not have any information regarding whether Intelsat will accelerate any plans to launch a replacement for IS-804 satellite, which has been in service since 1997. Katz said the first priority was to return all IS-804 customers to service and questions regarding replacing the satellite would be answered at a later time. Intelsat said in a press release that it expects to record a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $73 million to write off the value of the satellite, which was not insured. It is Intelsat’s practice to not insure satellites with a net book value of less than $150 million.

The effect of the satellite failure on the pending acquisition of Intelsat by Zeus Holdings Ltd. also has not been determined. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Zeus would have the right to cancel the transaction based on the satellite failure. Intelsat said Zeus management is evaluating the impact of this second failure.