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Arianespace launched both the Intelsat IS-33e and IS-36 in August 2016 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.
Intelsat has suffered a major failure of one of its spacecraft, creating, according to the U.S. Space Force, around 20 pieces of associated debris.
Intelsat has only said it lost power on one of its satellites serving Europe, Africa and some of the Asia-Pacific region and that it suspects the spacecraft will not be salvaged.
The Boeing-built geostationary satellite, IS-33e, suffered the problem on Oct. 19, Intelsat said. The Space Force has classified the incident as a breakup of the spacecraft, according to Space-Track.org.
“Based on the information available to us, we believe it is unlikely that the satellite will be recoverable,” the company said, even as it said it was working with Boeing to address the situation.
The Space Force said it was analyzing the situation, noting that it has observed “no immediate threats” to other spacecraft.
The satellite, which uses the Boeing 702MP bus, was launched August 2016 and entered service in January 2017. Located at 60 deg. east, it provided both C- and Ku-band service.
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I'm waiting for the paranoid types to proclaim it was a test by 'them' to disable any friendly comms satelite.