New Skies Satellites responded Thursday to information provided by Intelsat regarding the ongoing investigation into the failure of the Intelsat 804 satellite earlier this year.
Commenting on Intelsat's disclosure, Stephen Stott, New Skies' Chief Technology Officer, said:
"Promptly after the failure of Intelsat's satellite, Lockheed Martin, the satellite's manufacturer, launched a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the failure.
"At this point, Lockheed Martin has not completed its investigation and it is premature for us to speculate on what conclusions it will reach. Lockheed Martin is evaluating system design issues that could cause a failure under certain environmental and operational conditions. However, it has not isolated the root cause of the Intelsat satellite failure or the probability of such cause reoccurring on other satellites of the same series.
"As a result, Lockheed Martin has not yet determined to what extent other satellites of the same series face an increased risk of failure or whether operating procedures should be implemented to mitigate, in whole or in part, any such risk.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation closely, in coordination with Lockheed Martin. We look forward to the conclusion of Lockheed Martin's investigation and intend to take all appropriate steps, as and when they are identified, to protect the continued safe operation of our satellite fleet."
