The phrase "a dead satellite" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a satellite that is no longer functioning or operational.
Example: "After years of orbiting the Earth, the old communication system has become a dead satellite, unable to transmit any signals."
Alternatives: "an inactive satellite" or "a nonfunctional satellite".
The first salvo was a missile launch by the Chinese in 2007 that blew up a dead satellite and littered space with thousands of pieces of debris.
If you have the capability to push a dead satellite out of orbit, you could use the same method to take down a live one.
In 2007, China fired a missile that blew up a dead satellite, a worrisome demonstration of power that put the Pentagon on notice that its assets in low orbit could be vulnerable.
1919-2013". From his first published work in 1937, a poem entitled "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", printed in Amazing Stories magazine under the pseudonymous byline Elton Andrews, Pohl turned out an astonishingly huge body of work.
The mission will last two years, first visiting a dead satellite in geosynchrous orbit to test new proximity sensors for an automated rendevous and docking system NASA hopes to build, and then the spacecraft will go on to visit a near Earth asteroid, studying it with a small set of science instruments.
China raised serious concerns in 2007 by testing its ability to target a dead satellite with a missile from Earth; everyone understood the satellite might, under other circumstances, have been live.
Page 18 SATELLITE LOCATION UNKNOWN A dead NASA satellite fell back to Earth, but it may turn out that no one will ever know when and where it fell.
A dead NASA satellite, intently tracked by people around the world over the last couple of days, finally fell back to Earth — and it may turn out that no one will ever know when and where it fell.
The Pentagon said the mission to launch a Navy missile-interceptor at a dead spy satellite appears to have succeeded in destroying a tank filled with toxic rocket fuel.
In February, the U.S. demonstrated its own antisatellite capability, shooting down a dead spy satellite.
The decision was described by senior officials as designed solely to protect populated areas from space debris, and not to showcase how the emerging missile defense arsenal could be reprogrammed to counter an unexpected threat: in this case hazardous rocket fuel aboard the dead satellite.
