The U.S. Air Force is no longer able to command its newest weather satellite – Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19 (DMSP F-19).
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The incident started on Feb. 11 and operators have been trying to regain control since, the Air Force Space Command said.
DMSP F-19 had been serving as one of the two primary satellites in the DMSP constellation and the service has since switched DMSP Flight 17 from backup to primary role.
Engineers have traced the issue to the satellite’s RF receive subsystem. Without a functioning subsystem, the satellite cannot receive uplinks from ground stations.