WASHINGTON — The operator of a Spanish military communications satellite that suffered a “space particle” strike has written off the spacecraft, concluding it can no longer carry out its mission.
Indra Group, the majority owner of satellite operator Hisdesat, announced Jan. 16 that engineers determined the SpainSat NG 2 spacecraft will not be able to perform its mission of providing communications services for the Spanish Ministry of Defense and allied governments.
The company said two weeks earlier that the spacecraft, launched last October, had “suffered the impact of a space particle” while moving from the supersynchronous transfer orbit into which it was deployed to its final geostationary orbit. The operator provided no further details about the incident or its effects on satellite operations.
“Although the space particle that collided with the satellite was estimated to be millimetric in size and weigh only a few grams, the high speed of the impact on a vital area of the satellite caused nonrecoverable damage,” Indra said. Engineers concluded the damage “will prevent it from completing the planned mission.”
Indra previously said the impact occurred when the spacecraft was at an altitude of about 50,000 kilometers, well above the geostationary arc. That makes an orbital debris strike unlikely, although the spacecraft may have instead been hit by a micrometeoroid.
Key spacecraft systems typically have some degree of protection against micrometeoroid and orbital debris impacts. It was unclear whether the impacted area lacked such protection or whether the strike was more energetic than the shielding was designed to withstand.
The spacecraft remains intact, with no reports of debris being tracked in its vicinity. “The satellite is stable, complete and in a highly eccentric orbit, such that it will not interfere with any present or future space operations,” the company said.
Indra said it has begun the process of procuring a replacement spacecraft, SpainSat NG 3, and expects its cost to be covered by insurance. Hisdesat ordered SpainSat NG 1 and SpainSat NG 2 from Airbus Defence and Space in 2019, with both originally expected to launch by 2023. The two spacecraft instead launched in January and October 2025.
SpainSat NG 1 is operating normally, and Indra Group said it and the original SpainSat, launched in 2006, will continue to provide services from 29 degrees east and 30 degrees west longitude, respectively, until SpainSat NG 3 is launched.
