E*8 spacecraft separation confirmed....

GO E*8!

Good Launch! If you missed it I plan on showing highlights from the launch on a special edition of the DBSTalk.COM News Update later tonight.

Congrats to Echostar and ILS for a great launch!

I watched it live and PVR'd it on my 721

When are the repeats going to be? Did they show the smile on Charlie's face or dollar bills in his eyes?

LOL! YAHOOO! And if Picture quality doesn't improve soon, I'm going to kill myself. . .

Great news. Now, let's hope the solar panels extend properly and the transponders don't overheat. I wonder how many locals will go up now??

A question just occured to me. E* received authorization from the FCC to test E*8 at 129 in June. I wonder if they still plan on testing at that location or if they are just going to park it at 110 and test it there.

Several transponders at 110° are "empty" now. I think it's either two or three transponders are void of channels. They were turned off for a little while before the "big shuffle" last week.

To see all the channels that moved, check out the "changes" archive at http://ekb.dbstalk.com/247

See ya
Tony

The latest DBSTalk.COM Video News Update has video of the launch. For those who have not seen it, this is what a launch should look like. Absolutely perfect looking!

" I wonder if they still plan on testing at that location or if they are just going to park it at 110 and test it there."

Nobody knows, I don't think (if someone does - please correct me!), but they may decide that due to the delays, they'll skip in-orbit at 129. I don't know, but I'm curious myself

I do not see how they can risk not testing it some in 129. But, I expect that they will be testing it very quickly and put it in place at 110 ASAP. If they were to put it in place and it went out, it could take days to get the other sats back online and uplink'ing again. To have that much of the system out would be a disaster. But, I bet if they had a 90 day test schedule set up it is now less than 30 days.

The usual reason for testing doesn't apply, since E* did not buy in-orbit insurance.

It either works or it doesn't. I would think that they would just put it in place and light it up, BUT it may be that certain professionals might want to do it by the book...

Well the worst case scenerio that I could think of is if the satellite goes into 110 slot, then malfunctions, dish unable to turn off the satellite, or command it to move. The satellite blasts static down, completly rendering the 110 slot useless.

Next thing you know dish contracts with the Pentagon to test "new" antisatellite technology to shoot it down. This is the nightmare that keeps Charlie awake at night.

so Charlie rolled the dice?

Originally posted by Mike123abc
Well the worst case scenerio that I could think of is if the satellite goes into 110 slot, then malfunctions, dish unable to turn off the satellite, or command it to move. The satellite blasts static down, completly rendering the 110 slot useless.

Next thing you know dish contracts with the Pentagon to test "new" antisatellite technology to shoot it down. This is the nightmare that keeps Charlie awake at night.

Click to expand...

Well, they do have E*4 sitting around up there being basically useless. A little demolition derby anyone?

Originally posted by SParker
so Charlie rolled the dice?

Click to expand...

In a sense, yes. Basically, the insurance companies have failed to honor their claims on the two malfunctioning birds he put up insured (E*3 and E*4), so E*7 and E*8 are "self insured" birds, meaning he has set aside capital and has enough in-orbit backup should they fail. To Charlie, it makes more sence than paying premiums to an insurance company that is just going to screw him should anything go wrong.

Please note however, that while the satellietes themselves have no in-orbit insurance, they both had full coverage launch insurance, so if the rocket had blown up Charlie would have been covered.

-Lyle J.P.

on what grounds did they not honor the insurance on e*3 and e*4?

Also, when will e*8 be up and running? This PQ is getting horrible. . .

E*3 and E*4 both had their problems (4 especially, its solar panels wouldn't deploy), but the insurance companies said, "as long as the satellite partially functions and can send some signals to Earth, only as small amount of the total claim would be paid.

-Lyle J.P.