After 32 years of serving ships at sea and scientists at the South Pole, an aging communications satellite owned by Intelsat Ltd. has been retired. The Marisat-F2 satellite, manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Inc. and launched in 1976, had only a five-year design life, yet until the end, the communications payload continued operating within its original specifications, Intelsat engineers said. Once dubbed "The Little Satellite That Could," Marisat-F2 is believed to have been the oldest commercial communications satellite still actively operating in space.
The maritime telecommunications Marisat-FII satellite (Maritime Communications Satellite C) is starting to fail. Due to the predicted loss of control, and potential hazard to other satellites in the orbital slot, the operators have decided to decommission and eventually deorbit the satellite. The cutoff date is the 29th November 2008. The satellite was launched in October 14, 1976 for the US Department of Defence by Comsat and Intelsat, and is the third satellite in the constellation, providing coverage for the Atlantic Ocean Region. The Satellite operating life span had been expected to last until 2010.