Intelsat 33e breakup (2024)

The Intelsat 33e breakup is the disintegration in geostationary orbit of that satellite, a Boeing 702MP stationed at 60 degrees east. On October 19, 2024, Intelsat reported an anomaly on board. A few hours later the US Space Force confirmed that the satellite had broken into at least twenty tracked fragments. The cause has not been made public. The history was known. Launched in August 2016 on an Ariane 5, the satellite suffered a leak in its chemical propulsion. It took months longer than planned to reach its slot, and its lifetime was sharply reduced. Intelsat then filed a $78 million claim. At the time of the breakup the satellite was no longer covered, an Intelsat spokesperson said. Nothing unusual there: a fleet operator often keeps an already indemnified spacecraft flying, and little value remains to protect. The market paid attention for another reason. A breakup in geostationary orbit leaves debris on an orbit that nothing clears, at the same altitude as hundreds of working satellites. It also reopens the question of liability to neighbors. The 1972 Liability Convention regime requires fault for damage caused in orbit. Proving that an operator breached a duty of care by flying a weakened satellite has, so far, no precedent. In-orbit third party liability cover, rarely bought beyond what a license requires, lands back on brokers' desks after every such episode.