Satellites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. said that the primary xenon ion propulsion system (XIPS) aboard Satmex V experienced an unexpected shutdown on 27 January 2010.
The company said it was working with the manufacturer of the satellite to identify the cause of the primary XIPS system failure but does not expected to be able to restart the system. Satmex 5 is operating on its backup bi-propellant propulsion system. As a result, the satellite's remaining life is expected to be 2.7 years, compared to almost 4 years to complete its original design life. The primary XIPS failure is not expected to impact service to any Satmex V customer over the remaining life of the spacecraft.
According to an earlier filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the problems with Satmex 5's XIPS started in June 2005.
Since then, "the primary XIPS has been used as the operating propulsion system because the secondary XIPS ceased providing the required inclination control. Use of the primary XIPS will produce adverse effects such as contamination on the solar arrays and it will require bipropellant gas supplementary consumptions. Tests suggested by the manufacturer have been performed on the secondary XIPS; however, the results indicate that the secondary XIPS is no longer available," according to Satmex's filing.
Satmex V on 13 October 2004, 1053 UTC, suffered positioning problems ("una anomalía de posicionamiento") which caused a temporary interruption of some of the services provided by the satellite.
Satelites Mexicanos said in a press release that the satellite had gone into "self-protect mode" ("modo de autoprotección") before. The company was taking "measures to rectify the problem." However, the statement also said the cause of the problem was unknown.
In a message to its customers, Satmex said that it "completed the pointing correction maneuvers of SatMex 5 and gradually re-established services in all of its transponders" the same day. It said it had "no information that suggests any satellite hardware damage, or a shortening of its expected useful life and service capability."
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