Comms Satellite status
'asked in the TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Q&A Forum
Does any person out there know the Y2K status of the Global
satellite systems?
Seems to me the Internet will get very dark come the Digital
Winter without these devices.
Asked by Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz) on May 19, 1998.
Answers
"Does any person out there know the Y2K status of the Global
satellite systems?"
I would think that the "Embedded Chip" problem would be a
consideration. Also, as we are entering a new Solar Cycle,
where the Sun will have very active Solar Storms, (Solar Flares).
This along with the Software, Firmware, and Hardware
problems, made possible by the lack of complete Y2k
Remediation, will have its way with the tons of new satallite
systems as well as the old.
Answered by Dave Jones (dfj@fea.net) on May 19, 1998.
I just heard on the news that the satellite G4 is "missing", or not
working. Hmmm...wonder what's up with that? Y2k? Probably
not, but it is a taste of what's to come...
Answered by Frank Anderson, Jr. (Zanazaz@Earthlink.net) on May 19, 1998.
According to usenet news, Galaxy 4 has suffered a fuel cell
rupture which has knocked it out of geostationary orbit. It's still
talking to its operations centre and has spare fuel cells, so it may
be salvageable.
In the meantime it's causing a considerable amount of trouble:
again hearsay, a large percentage of USA pagers are out,
various radio and cable TV broadcasts are affected, and I
noticed that quote.yahoo.com was misbehaving (which may be
coincidence, it seems OK again as I write)
Like the Auckland power failure, this is a valuable warning of
what may be in store, even if it proves (like the power failure)
that software played no part in the failure.
As for the original question: it's pretty much unanswerable. Most
of the code in those birds can be reloaded from the ground, (so
it's remediable without any shuttle missions being needed) and
there's virtually certain to be a last-resort program in ROM that
shouldn't be date-sensitive to keep the bird alive if the main code
crashes. So plausible scenarios range from successful
remediation in advance, through a glitch while surviving bugs are
eradicated, to total loss because the guidance system goes mad
or things get too badly screwed up on the ground.
Answered by Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk) on May 20, 1998.
One other comment to the original question, satellites are no
longer widely used for point-to-point communications (that's
mostly ground-based fibre). The main role for satellites is
broadcast (pagers, radio and TV) and communications to moving
vehicles (planes and boats). Therefore, even if all the satellites
die, phones and the internet will survive that. Of course, it may
be very a different story with respect to Y2K bugs in systems
attached to the fibres.
Answered by Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk) on May 20, 1998.
According to CNN: "Galaxy 4 lost contact with Earth on
Tuesday when its onboard control system and backup switch
failed".
Either way, I wonder if it is related to Those Solar Flares or
Meteorite fragments??
Answered by Dave Jones (dfj@fea.net) on May 20, 1998.
There is more to satellite use than personal communication (on
planes, boats, or pagers) and public broadcasts (radio, tv).....
A certain retail furniture company's home office is not receiving
any orders from their local retail stores today. Why? Because
they installed satellite uplinks from their stores to the home
office. A dish on top of each building. Implemented EDI
(electronic data interchange) via satellite. Got rid of those old
junky modems (oops!). And now, the whole thing is dead in the
water.
The stores can't: send in new orders, check previous order
status, or check inventory for availability. If EDI is also used for
other transactions, the local stores possibly may not be able to:
upload payroll/timecard info, submit end of day receipts (of
course now there aren't any), check distribution schedules, or
check/change customer delivery schedules.
How long can a store stay in business if they are on hold like
this? How long would you pay clerical/sales staff to hang out and
do nothing? How many customers would just go elsewhere?
I wonder how many other companies use (were using) links of
this type...and how many of those have poor or non-existing
contingency plans......
Answered by Addie Ryan (addie.ryan@usa.net) on May 20, 1998.
Please don't keep us in suspense! What furniture store is it?
Answered by Annie (anniegaff@mailexcite.com) on May 20, 1998.
Sorry, I didn't intend to create suspense - I don't know if it is
appropriate to post the name of the company on the net. There is
still a possiblity they will get an alternative solution soon and I
don't want to cause harm to the company (long term damage, if
there is any, will be apparent soon enough).
Answered by Addie Ryan (addie.ryan@usa.net) on May 21, 1998.
I heard Jack Rivkin of the Travlers Group on CNBC Squawk
Box. He said that this satellite problem is a precurser to the year
2000 problem. He also said that Fidelity Investments are training
their employees to use paper instead of computers. Word is
getting out.
Answered by Annie (anniegaff@mailexcite.com) on May 21, 1998.
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