mm33
On page 46 of the English language version they state:
The messages received on 1st June after 2 h 10 all transited via the same satellite (Atlantic Ocean West, operated by the Inmarsat Company) and SITA’s ACARS network.
So they do specifically state which satellite was in use and that basically puts them almost dead center under it. It would take something fairly dramatic for them to lose the satellite. A 30 degree or so change in attitude that was not corrected by the antenna steering logic could do it. That would suggest they were in something other than a purely "flat" spin at least some of the time but not a large percentage of the time. So if I were a person who bet often I'd bet the plane broke up very shortly after the ACARS last message and was basically in one major piece and out of control in but relatively constant attitudes until them.
We basically agree. (And I go back a few years from you for satellite work. I have one assembly on the GPS satellites, a whole not of kibbitzing in other assemblies, and both hardware and software involved in two aspects of the pre-launch testing of the puppies. I'm the bad person who provided the hardware for doing the dithering. I mitigated that by noting to the right person this also allowed for improving the precision of the signal by using the frequency dithering capability to correct for oscillator drifts. Heh, I also provided a throw away statement that led to the major cosmic ray and nuclear event upset recovery - reboot the silly thing periodically on a separate watchdog timer whether it needs it or not.)
JD-EE