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Air Force dumping two GPS satellites

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Joseph Carberry, Boeing Lead Satellite Bus Engineer, sends the final commands to SVN-40, nicknamed “dough boy,” to turn cease transmission operations. the 2nd Space Operations Squadron spent a week moving the satellite outside operational orbit where it will now remain and continue to be tracked. SVN-40 was originally launched in 1996 with an expected use time of seven and a half years. Nearly 20 years later, the satellite was removed from service due to an attitude control failure. Carberry was the lead engineer when SVN-40 was initially launched. (U.S. Air Force photo/Christopher DeWitt)

The Air Force is disposing of two GPS satellites.

Satellite vehicle number (SVN) 37, launched in 1993, and SVN 40, launched in 1996, will be ordered to move into a new orbit.

“GPS satellites do not carry enough fuel for de-orbit maneuvers, and are instead relocated into a disposal orbit roughly 1,000 kilometers above the operational GPS orbit,” according to an Air Force news release. “The disposed vehicles will most likely never re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Both satellites performed for more than double their service life of 7.5 years, the Air Force said. But SVN 37 has a stuck solar array and can’t generate enough power, and SVN 40’s reaction wheels, which stabilize the satellite, aren’t working properly.

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Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.