ISC-11 ISC-11 TOOLS Satellite Lifetime Predictor
ISC-11 // Satellite Operations

Satellite Lifetime Predictor

Estimates remaining operational lifetime from current remaining fuel, working backward from station-keeping and attitude-control fuel consumption rates — the inverse of the Fuel Budget Calculator's forward planning problem.

Spacecraft & fuel state
Isp ~150–235s for chemical thrusters, ~1500–3000s for electric propulsion — enter whichever applies.
Station-keeping & attitude strategy
North-South station-keeping
East-West station-keeping
Attitude control / momentum dumping
Radiation pressure / eccentricity control
Quick estimate
—years
Estimated remaining lifetime
—
Estimated end-of-life date
—m/s / yr
Total Δv consumption rate
Detailed breakdown
ContributorRate (m/s/yr)Share of total
East-West drift around the GEO belt
Stable points (low fuel cost) near 75.1°E and 254.7°E; unstable points (high fuel cost) near 165.1°E and 345.1°E — driven by Earth's equatorial triaxiality. Orange marker shows your longitude.
Δv remaining over time
Strategy sensitivity
Rough comparisons re-running the same Δv budget under alternate strategies, holding everything else fixed.
Model and its limits: North-South station-keeping (lunisolar gravity correction) is essentially independent of longitude — the commonly cited ~45–55 m/s/year range (default 50) varies with the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle. East-West station-keeping is longitude-dependent due to Earth's equatorial triaxiality; the stable/unstable point locations used here (75.1°E / 254.7°E stable, 165.1°E / 345.1°E unstable) are drawn from published orbital-dynamics literature, but the specific min/max rate bounds (default 2–6 m/s/year) are representative industry figures, not a full tesseral-harmonic propagation — override them if you have site-specific data. The radiation-pressure/eccentricity term is a simplified proportional model based on area-to-mass ratio, intended to capture the right order of magnitude rather than a precise value. Available Δv uses the standard rocket equation from current wet mass to dry mass; actual usable propellant is often 3–5% less than the theoretical value due to residuals and ullage — consider derating the fuel mass input if you want a more conservative estimate.