A few past satellites that were stranded in such MEO orbits tried maneuvers involving flying past the Moon and using its gravity to inject it into a proper orbit.

The company can also de-orbit the satellite in order to collect the insurance money held on the communications satellite.

McLean, Virginia-based (United States) International Launch Services (ILS), which markets the Proton rocket to customers around the world, is owned jointly by the United States and Russia.

The company consists of the British Virgin Islands company Space Transport Inc. and the Russian companies Khrunichev (Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center) and RSC Energia (Moscow).