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Eutelsat 7B

Eutelsat 3D
Mission type Communications
Operator Eutelsat
COSPAR ID 2013-022A
SATCAT no. 39163
Mission duration 15 years (planned)
Orbits completed 626
Spacecraft properties
Bus Spacebus 4000
Manufacturer Thales Alenia Space
Launch mass 5,470 kilograms (12,060 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 14 May 2013, 16:02 (2013-05-14UTC16:02Z) UTC
Rocket Proton-M/Briz-M
Launch site Baikonur Cosmodrome 200/39
Contractor International Launch Services
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Geostationary
Longitude 3° east
Perigee 35,782 kilometres (22,234 mi)
Apogee 35,805 kilometres (22,248 mi)
Inclination 0.05 degrees
Period 1436.14 minutes
Epoch 24 January 2015, 05:09:19 UTC
Transponders
Band Ka and Ku

Eutelsat 3D is a communications satellite operated by Eutelsat which will provide services to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. It will initially be located at 3° E in geosynchronous orbit in a fixed point above the equator, where Eutelsat already has two satellites Eutelsat 3A and Eutelsat 3C. Once Eutelsat 3B is launched in 2014 this satellite will be moved to 7°E.

The satellite has four footprints and broadcasts on both Ka band and Ku band. Three footprints will serve Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa in both Ka and Ku bands. The fourth footprint will cover sub-Saharan Africa but only in Ku band. It will have 56 transponders in total. The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space using their spacebus 4000 satellite bus.

The satellite will be launched by International Launch Services from pad 39 at Site 200 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch will use a Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The first three stages of the Proton fire for the first 9 minutes, 42 seconds. After that the Briz-M upper stage takes over with five separate burns until the space craft separates from the upper stage 9 hours and 13 minutes after launch.

The satellite launched on 14 May 2013 at 16:02 UTC and was successfully placed into geostationary transfer orbit. It was given the International Designator 2013-022A and the US satellite catalog reference 39163.

Eutelsat name their satellites after their locations so it is likely that this satellite will change name when it is moved. Eutelsat 3C used to be called Atlantic Bird 4A when it was located at 7°W. It was renamed to 3C when it moved to 3°E. Eutelsat 3A was likewise renamed when it moved.


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