Telstar 4 is Down 368
An anonymous reader writes "Sometime this morning (Sept. 19) Telstar 4 had a major onboard failure. I just checked a few minutes ago and there are CW carriers up on 11700 MHz V & 12200 MHz H, so the spacecraft would appear to still be in its orbital slot - just no traffic. The Loral Skynet site has no mention of this yet, but supposedly Telstar 8 was already scheduled to replace T4, so they may just speed the process up. This turn of events will no doubt be of some small concern to Intelsat, who recently agreed to purchase most of Loral's US domestic fleet, including T4."
I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:5, Funny)
"It's hard for me to believe it's even English you're speaking. I don't recognize any of the words."
Reading this Slashdot post just made me understand what she means.
It's like a bad sci-fi screenplay!
(Telstar? CW carriers? 11700 MHz V & 12200 MHz H? orbital slot? Intelsat? Loral's US domestic fleet?)
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's a satellite.
Either that or an old TV show.
Or maybe the aliens are invading.
Now I wonder if this story was accepted because a) it sounded real tech-like, b) the person who accepted knows what the submitter is talking about, c) the random number generator was less than 0.01, d) Cowboy Neal.
But one thing's for sure, as it stands, the story has yet to answer the all-important questions: "How does this affect me, and why should I care?"
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:2, Funny)
Given the past tense, I am assuming she left you for the article submitter who is apparently even more of a pathetic slobbering geek than you were? Truly the submitter is the alpha male of slobbering geeks!
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:5, Funny)
It was a typical Friday at Telstar control: slow. McMurray was at the main console. He was idly thinking about which sandwiches he was going to pick up at Subway on the way home for the family.
Suddenly, an alarm light flashed. McMurray looked at the status screen, and it took a moment to sink in. Telstar 4 had just gone down. "Strange", he thought. "I've never seen a bird go offline just like that."
He punched a few commands to try to contact the satellite, but got no response. He muttered under his breath "It's going to be a long night."
Ok, first things first. He e-mailed his wife to tell her he'd wouldn't be getting dinner after all. He fired off an anonymous story submission about the situation to Slashdot.
At this point, it still looked like a simple electronic failure. There was no hint of impending disaster; no indication of what might happen to the planet in a few short hours. Nobody on earth noticed the tiny deep violet pinpoint that was just now becoming detectable over the northern rim of the full moon. A few bored geeks on Slashdot posted some lame jokes about the Telstar 4 story.
McMurray was just about to reroute the command channel to the eastern uplink station when the entire control center suddenly went black. He sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, then the shockwave hit...
[ To read the rest of this bad screenplay, you must have a premium membership. Log on now to continue. ]
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:4, Funny)
For this, subscribing to slashdot might almost be worthwhile.
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:5, Funny)
Reading this Slashdot post just made me understand what she means.
Telstart 4 heeft vanmorgen (19 september) een interne storing gehad. Ik heb het een paar minuten geleden gecontroleerd, en er zijn nog draaggolven op 11.7Ghz verticaal en 12.1 Ghz horizontaal, dus de satelliet hangt nog in zijn baan om de aarde, alleen er is geen signaal te bekennen. Op de webpagina's van Loral Skynet staat nog geen aankondiging, maar Telstar 4 stond toch al op de nominatie om vervangen te worden door Telstar 8, dus misschien versnellen ze die uitrol. Intelsat zal zich dit nieuws zeker aantrekken, aangezien ze laatst overeengekomen met Loral om het grootste deel van hun satellieten die boven de VS hangen over te nemen, waaronder deze.
Is that better?
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:3, Funny)
Got it?
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you really expect slashdotters to do some research before posting?
Re:I'm as stumped as my girlfriend usually is (Score:5, Informative)
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Assuming everyone knows everything you do is a sure sign of the foolish man.
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Huh? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
Short Article (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
However, most of the major users of such a big satellite like national TV/Radio concerns know that it's only a matter of time before something like this happens to a satellite, so they've got automatic switchovers at their affiliates that keep them flowing even if a network show is on at the time. The problem comes to anybody who has "preemptable" satellite space for today, because they may just find themselves hit somebody who's willing to pay the premium fee to bump them. Other users in a pinch might just send something that normally goes over a satellite through landlines today, etc.
It's a major sudden redirection of large ammounts of traffic in the national communication infrastructure, although not exactly earth shaking because most people won't see much of a disruption. (Galaxy IV was a bit more newsworthy fo a failure a few years ago because it took out most of SkyTel's pagers...)
So, it's interesting to some people and other people don't care. Isn't that what
The Story (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The Story (Score:3, Funny)
T2 Armageddon Averted? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:T2 Armageddon Averted? (Score:5, Funny)
Wifi devices ! (Score:3, Funny)
See the results...
Re:Wifi devices ! (Score:2)
Talk about a DDoS!
j/k
Re:Wifi devices ! (Score:2)
Ok, I'll try to tone it down a bit. Will someone let me know when the new bird flies so I can try out the modifications?
KFG
A major crisis! (Score:5, Funny)
One of Telstar 4's nicknames in the industry is "nookiesat" -- as it carries several of the leading porn channels in the US.
Re:A major crisis! (Score:2, Funny)
Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Informative)
Obviously the satellite industry has its priorities straight.
Even worse... (Score:5, Funny)
Telstar 4 has mutinied and is orchestrating the robot rebellion against humanity. The Loral Global Alliance [loral.com] faction's Loral SKYNET [cyberstar.com] program has gone too far this time.
Looking at Telstar 4's coverage map [cyberstar.com], it's clear that SKYNET plans to strike first in an east-west corridor bounded by New Mexico and Ohio; the killing robot machines will move outward until they capture most of Canada, half of Mexico, and all of Hawaii.
Save us, Terminate SKYNET! [arnold-2003.com]
Re:Even worse... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh... GREAT... (Score:5, Funny)
Damn -- I loved that song (Score:3, Funny)
NOT offtopic!!! (Score:5, Informative)
The 'Telstar' the parent refers to is the 1962 pop instrumental piece written by by Joe Meek and performed by the Tornadoes who became the first U.K. band to have a #1 hit in the States, even before the Beatles. 'Telstar' was inspired by the launch of Telstar 1.
Of course, this is way, way before 99.9% of the Slashdot readership were born so I'm not suprised it was missed. Hell, even I was only 1 year old.
So what does this mean to the average user? (Score:4, Funny)
Can we still download the latest Windows security patches?
Do we still get stupid invoices from sco.com?
-- Rushdan
Re:So what does this mean to the average user? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So what does this mean to the average user? (Score:3, Informative)
So, anybody who's actually making money with their satellite usage has made backup contracts that say when T4 goes down, they immedately get moved to another spot to become their full-time home. For example, I've seen elsewhere that several pron channels that were on Telestar 4 got moved to Telestar 6. The proble
In other news... (Score:3, Funny)
Astronomers from Tacoma to Vladivostok have just reported an ionic disturbance in the vicinity of the Van Allen Belt. Scientists are recommending that necessary precautions be taken.
good way to upgrade (Score:3, Insightful)
In IT people that a lot (especially with the servers)
And with the recent increase in MS security patches this has become more evident. People are scrambling to upgrade/switch to better OS (like OS X, Linux etc)
For all those whiners... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://roland.lerc.nasa.gov/~dglover/sat/telstar.
Re:For all those whiners... (Score:2)
Re:For all those whiners... (Score:2)
I'm depressed the google searh returns no mention of the first game console I ever owned, named "Telstar". No cartriges, just a slide switch on top for selecting between 4 types of Pong.
This may affect you because (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This may affect you because (Score:4, Funny)
Re:This may affect you because (Score:5, Funny)
I think I speak for a large majority of fellow Slashdotters, when I rub my hands together and creepishly ask "Got any job openings there?" (Grabs for inhaler...)
Re:This may affect you because (Score:5, Funny)
Rub your hands where?
Re:This may affect you because (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This may affect you because (Score:2)
KFG
Re:This may affect you because (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome on my friend list.
I always wanted to be able to tell people that I have friends at the Erotic Network.
Not that I can watch Telstar here in Germany, but hey, its the thought that counts.
Re:This may affect you because (Score:4, Funny)
Isn't that the place where every network interface is in promiscuous mode? <grin>
Re:This may affect you because (Score:4, Informative)
Those transponder slots that are targeted by such an agreement are used for short-term "pre-emptable" uses, such as a TV station that needs to broadcast two or three live news reports from another city, or maybe even a small-time sports game. Those people are outta luck on a day like this, because they're gonna get bumped.
Impending Doom?! (Score:2, Funny)
or
"It's like in chess: First, you strategically position your pieces and when the timing is right you strike. They're using this signal to syncronize their efforts and in 5 hours the countdown will be over"
Re:Impending Doom?! (Score:2)
Remember, Kif: in the game of chess, you must never let your adversary see your pieces!
It's the Mothership... (Score:5, Funny)
"They're using our own satellites against us!"
- Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day
Re:It's the Mothership... (Score:5, Funny)
- Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day
Nothing to worry about. I hear those evil aliens run systems which are Mac compatible and they forgot to set the root password.
You may not miss it ... (Score:5, Funny)
Enjoy the silence while it lasts ...
Major League Baseball (Score:5, Funny)
Why does this sound like... (Score:4, Funny)
reboot it (Score:3, Funny)
cycle the power, voila, no big deal.
oh, wait...
Re:reboot it (Score:4, Funny)
Dilbert: Won't he pop like a baloon a few seconds after he gets up there?
PHB: Will he have time to power-cycle the thingamahoey?
Dilbert: Well, I suppose so, but...
PHB: Will it be operational then?
Dilbert: I think so, but..
PHB: And this will save us how much money?
Dilbert: 25 million a day... look! That's not the point!
Wally: I think it's a brilliant plan, sir. Truly the finest.
Dilbert & Alice: WALLY!?!
Wally: What? I'm just saying....
Three days later
PHB: Okay, we're ready, Asok.
Asok: Are you sure this is such a good idea?
PHB: Perfectly safe. Perfectly safe.
Chunk....whoosh... splut...
(We see Asok's feet sticking out of the side of a building.)
PHB: For us, anyway.
Was there really anything important on there? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Was there really anything important on there? (Score:2)
You've OBVIOUSLY never had to deal with a 3-year old that hasn't gotten her daily fix of Sesame Street! (I'll resist the urge to use the phrase "You insensitive clod!")
Re:Was there really anything important on there? (Score:2)
Re:Was there really anything important on there? (Score:2)
Re:Was there really anything important on there? (Score:2)
A fleet? (Score:2, Insightful)
What Telstar 4 is..... (Score:2, Informative)
Telstar 4
77 W (in 2003)
Began service: 11/95
Transponders: 24 C-band @ 36 MHz
16 Ku-band @ 54MHz
Coverage: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and into Canada.
Markets: Robust broadcast and syndication neighborhood anchored by ABC and CBS; host to SNG, data and distance learning applications.
Telstar 4 info (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.lyngsat.com/t4.shtml [lyngsat.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re:A list of channels (Score:3, Funny)
Oh great... (Score:2)
Re:Oh great... (Score:2)
Sorry! My bad! (Score:5, Funny)
Please stand by.
Independence day? (Score:3, Funny)
He might be able to find the hidden carrier signal the alien fleet uses to coordinate the attack.
Your big moment... (Score:5, Funny)
Well... now that that's over with, nothing left to do but go get a life, I suppose.
Actually (Score:2)
If MAE-WEST blew up one day, you'd expect a
Good old Loral (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe they went out of business... they've been know for criminal activities...
A Link that Says a Bit More. (Score:4, Informative)
Here... [businesswire.com]
And here... [billingsgazette.com]
de-TV Geeked translation (Score:5, Informative)
The main power bus on Telstar 4 died. This means it does not have the power to rebroadcast (bounce) the signals back to earth.
Kinda like the Enterprise losing the warp drive, but still having impulse power to putter around.
These birds cost US$200-300 million to build and US$100-150 million to launch. Failure of this type is a huge loss for Intelsat and a costly transition for the broadcasters.
The companies that used that bird need to switch to other ones. This causes two problems.
1) Antennas - The recievers all need to repoint their antennas at new birds. This is a pain in the ass to do precisely.
2) Bumps - Due to agreements, some companies on Telstar 4 have the right to 'bump' others off the backup birds and take their places. If you get bumped, you are fuxxored.
Make some sense now?
Re:de-TV Geeked translation (Score:2, Funny)
Re:de-TV Geeked translation (Score:2, Funny)
So, we can expect it to be fixed before the hour is up?
But wait... normally you can only restore warp at the dramatically necessary moment, which is right after a commercial break as the aliens attack. But if Telstar 4 carries the commercials, then we can't have a commercial break! Now what do we do?
Re:de-TV Geeked translation (Score:3, Informative)
Skynet site hacked? (Score:2, Interesting)
What's up with the first entry? Also, there's an entry for "hacker".
Reading the links is the Rosetta for this story. (Score:5, Informative)
T4 is a broadcast Satalite used to transmit the raw station feeds from the central offices (read networks) to local broadcasters (cable, local ABC affiliate etc).
What Data T4 is responcible for:
Robust broadcast and syndication neighborhood anchored by ABC and CBS; host to SNG, data and distance learning applications. (Also hosted is Spice Channel and two other adult viewing stations which are not mentioned on the main site)
Where it effects:
The central portion of North America
The origional poster mentions the Carrier frequencies that the data is normally transfered on. The poster also mentions that there is no data being broadcast, just the main freq.
I have no way of confirming this myself, and dont see anything about it on any of the satalite pages. All they report is that a satalite is up and running (i.e. the Carrier frequency is present, but nothing on the data being transmitted)
As for the information on replacing the old T4 with T8, well T8 is currently handling south america, and the information I could find on google about the sale of the out dated satalites it vague at best.
Who does this effect:
Possably people out in the midwest are not getting any TV on their cable boxes.
mostlikly its effecting the cable companies and local affiliates who need to reroute to another satalite, and the central offices which also need to switch the feeds to other sat feed providers.
In the end nothing is confirmed.
Skynet confirms its dead (Score:5, Informative)
"Telstar 4 experienced a short circuit of primary its power bus and is not fixable. This satellite is offline permanently."
memories of a job i'm glad i don't have anymore (Score:3, Interesting)
The real tragedy (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The real tragedy (Score:4, Funny)
Dear submitter, (Score:2, Informative)
Damn! (Score:4, Funny)
There's still crap on my TV (Score:4, Funny)
Oh great... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:my guess ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Effect ? (Score:2, Funny)
Hope this helps.
Re:Effect ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Effect ? (Score:3, Funny)
Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to elimi
Re:Effect ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Because (Score:2)
Re:reference? (Score:2)
Re:reference? (Score:2)
Well, you could bitch and moan about it, or you could just use Google News [google.com] and find [reuters.com] your own [businesswire.com] damn references [billingsgazette.com]
Re:reference? (Score:2)
O.K., by that logic, let's just let all of our news sources report on news items without citing sources or references. What would that leave us with eh? Fox news is what. My point is simply that a news article should cite sources and references so we can establish within reason the credibility of the story without having to go poking around in search of references for topical news items. Posting news items without sources is simply shod