Life span of satellites

India is all set to launch its maiden Moon Exploration Mission Chandrayan-1 and every Indian is very thrilled & excited about the same.
But here I would like to discuss about the life span of satellites.


Like every starting has a ending in the universe, the satellites also will die after specific span of time which is called “Life Span”. For example; The scheduled “Chandrayan-1” mission’s life is 2 Years.
The life span of satellites depends largely on their size, or to be precise , it depends on how much liquid fuel they carry aboard . The liquid fuel is used to operate small rocket engines, the rocket engines are very important for the satellite (there are three types of forces acting on the satellite in space causing the satellite to deviate from its course). The ground station on earth uses these small rockets to perform maneuvers necessary to keep the satellite in the same position in the sky (usually they perform two maneuvers every two weeks, north-south maneuver & east-west maneuver). So we can direct our antenna's here at earth(parabolic reflectors or dish) to this specific point in space & receive the broadcasted TV & radio channels & also to send tele-commands from the ground station on earth to control the satellite , otherwise we need a special type of antenna's (half a billion US$ each) to track & locate the satellite.

The largest satellites out there are the communication satellites (tv, radio, telephony) & they use the geostationary orbit (about 36,000 km above sea level & above the equator) & the satellite orbit around the earth depends on the speed of the satellite, once the satellite is delivered to its orbit by the rocket it was carried on, the satellite will take that orbit speed, comm. sat. also have the longest life span (it’s a round 17 to 20yrs these days) , before the satellite runs out of fuel , the ground station performs one last maneuver to send the satellite to a place called “satellite graveyard”. It’s an orbit around the earth used to retire old useless satellites & they become junk on space, a growing problem, this is when in it come to satellites using the geostationary orbit , for satellites using lower orbits they may be put on re-entry course so they burn before they reach the earth.

Waste moons - The Dead Satellies

Till 3rd October 1957 Our Earth had only one satellite, that’s the moon.
But on 4th October 1957 man added a sibling to moon, “Sputnik-1” the first artificial satellite. Since then space science has developed at unbelievable pace. The result is, there are approximately 2465 satellites orbiting the earth and every year number of countries launching their satellites by their own facility or with the help of other launch capable countries
(Remember the recent landmark India set by launching 10 satellites at a time.....!)

But out of all the satellites out there only around 570 satellites are active presently that is 7% of total satellites in space
So what I was wondering is what happens to all other satellites …?? Where are they..? Are they dead…?
Yes every satellite has its own life span which varies from months to years. The maximum life span of the satellites achieved presently is about 20 years. (The scheduled chandrayan-1 satellites life span is 2 years). So what happen to them after the set life span?

There are two methods presently countries are using to dump the waste / dead satellites
1. The satellites will be moved to the earth’s atmosphere which is called as “re-entry Course” where during entering the earth’s atmosphere the satellite will get burned out. But sometimes the satellite will not get completely burned and the un-burnt debris will reach the earth (like an asteroid). In this case there is possibility of damage to the property or life of citizens. But all the care will be taken by the space bodies that, in cases when the satellite debris not completely burned it will fall in to sea
2. In the most common method the dead satellites will move into the orbit called “graveyard orbit”. This orbit is about few miles above the “geocentric orbit” where maximum satellites will be placed. The satellite which is in its final stage of life span will be moved to this area so that it can be dumped without affecting the other active satellites.
3. And the newest technology to get rid of dead satellites is to destroy them in space. You might have heard about the recent china’s anti satellite missile test. In this case the satellite will be targeted from the ground and will be attacked by a missile which will destroy the dead satellite.

So as everything has an end in the universe, satellites are also die. And before their death they had done their best to the purpose. Look like man is the only creature who doesn’t give his best of his target….!
Thank you satellites for helping, us to use all the cutting-edge technologies. May god rest you all in peace.