Eutelsat W2, W3 (W6), W5

 

Eutelsat W2 [Alcatel]

The W satellites are designed to provide telecommunications services primarily over Europe (Eutelsat W2, W3 and W5) and communication services over Russia and Africa (W4). W2, W3 and W5 are designed to offer 24 transponders at saturation and W4 is designed to provide 31 transponders at saturation. The W satellites have a minimum operational lifetime of 12 years. The spacecraft are based on the Spacebus-3000B2 platform.

The original W1 satellite was damaged during construction by a malfuncioning fire extinguishing system. It was declared a total loss, but was later reconstructed and completed as W5. The replacement for the W1, which was to be named W1R was reconfigured before launch and finally launched as Eurobird 1.

 

Nation: International
Type / Application: Communication
Operator: Eutelsat
Contractors: Alcatel Space
Equipment: 24 (+10) Ku-band teansponders
Configuration: Spacebus-3000B2
Propulsion: S400
Lifetime: 12 years
Mass: 2965 kg (#2); 3180 kg (#3); 3170 kg (#5); 1810 kg (BOL)
Orbit: GEO

 

Satellite Date LS   Launcher Remarks:
Eutelsat W1R reordered       -> Eurobird 1
Eutelsat W2 05.10.1998 Ko ELA-2 Ariane-44L H10-3 with Sirius 3
Eutelsat W3 -> Eutelsat W6 12.04.1999 CC SLC-36A Atlas-2AS
Eutelsat W5 (ex Eutelsat W1) 20.11.2002 CC SLC-37B Delta-4M+(4,2)

  

Further Eutelsat missions:

Last update: 27.09.2009
Contact: gunter.krebs@skyrocket.de
© Gunter Dirk Krebs