An Indian communications satellite has stopped talking to ground controllers. The spacecraft went silent so suddenly that an unnamed official was quoted by the Times of India as saying that it was like the satellite had suffered a “cardiac arrest.”

Normally ground controllers see things start to go wrong before a spacecraft stops communicating. This time, however, according to the quoted official, there were no signs at all. This is making it difficult to diagnose the error and try to bring the spacecraft back online.

Observations from Earth show that the satellite is intact but failed to reach its final, circular orbit. The GSAT 6A satellite cost about $41m(£29m) and was designed for a 10-year mission. It was to have provided communications to remote areas of the country, including civilian, governmental and military users.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been generally successful recently. In 2017 four out of five launch attempts worked, including a powerful new rocket. One launch even deployed a record 104 small satellites. Efforts to re-establish contact with GSAT 6A continue.





