Telesat launched its LEO–3 demo satellite back in July 2023. But it is now suffering problems with its on–board thruster. The Ottawa-based operator informed the FCC on February 2nd that it would not now be able to de–orbit the satellite at the end of its mission.

Telesat is building a fleet of satellites for its Lightspeed constellation, and LEO–3 was a pathfinder and demonstrator of the planned technology.

Telesat said that it first tried to implement the thruster on October 20th 2025 but was unsuccessful. It says it has attempted multiple times to restart the thruster but without an adequate result.

“It has now been determined that there is a permanent, physical fault in the emitter section of the thruster,” noted Telesat’s letter to the FCC.

Other posts by :

1. Orbital debris a real danger 
2. India boosts space budget
3. Blue Origin drops passenger flights
4. Bank: “Charter racing to the bottom”
5. SpaceX IPO in June?
6. Russia postpones Starlink rival
7. Why don’t lawmakers like Netflix?
8. Viasat taps Ex-Im Bank to finance satellite
9. Bank: TeraWave not a direct threat to AST SpaceMobile

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: LEO, lightspeed, telesat