"Rest assured that if Optus tries to shift B3 to B1 and then shift B1 to B3 orbital locations it will be a lawyers-at-ten-paces fest."<br /><br />It will be in the fine print, under emergency contractual obligations.<br /><br />"Facts are that B1 and B3 are identical, they both have identical SCPs (satellite control processors) on board. There is nothing to say that the SCP on B3 will not fail tomorrow - chances are more likely for this now that B1 primary SCP has failed. B1 was launched may months before B3 so the probability of B3 failure is now higher."<br /><br />B1 is now operating on backup, but has the most major customer SKY NZ. A major rugby series is due to start this week Lions VS Al Blacks, Sky Nz has put millions into promoting it as have the advertisers. They stand to lose even more $$$$$$$$$ if the satellite fails in mid tour.<br /><br />The amount of users affected in swapping B3 for B1 is a piddling amount.<br /><br />Yes Tin whiskers is the most likely problem. Interesting Satfacts had an article about this very thing a few months ago. Maybe they knew something eh?