Posted: Wed, May 15, 2002, 8:12 PM ET (0012 GMT)
A direct broadcasting television satellite owned by DIRECTV has been relegated to a backup role after the failure of one of its main computers. DIRECTV announced Tuesday that one of two spacecraft control processors (SCPs) failed on the seven-year-old DIRECTV 3 on May 4. The spacecraft switched to a backup SCP and is operating normally, with no loss of service for any subscribers. However, DIRECTV announced that it was switching programming normally carried by the spacecraft to other DIRECTV spacecraft in orbit, with DIRECTV 3 becoming an on-orbit spare. DIRECTV 3 is a Boeing 601 model spacecraft; several other 601s have suffered failures of their SCPs in orbit due to a known problem with the SCPs that has been corrected on spacecraft launched since the late 1990s.

Related Links:

•  DIRECTV press release
•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  SPACEandTECH article