Eutelsat’s massive 70B craft was successfully orbited from the floating Sea Launch platform overnight on December 3-4. The launch took place at 20.44 GMT on the 3rd. The huge 5.2 tonne satellite is to be placed at 70.5 degrees East.

Eutelsat, in a statement, said the craft’s solar panels had been partly deployed some two hours after launch.  The satellite was built by Astrium using its popular E3000 platform, and with its 48 Ku-band transponders will more than double Eutelsat’s operational capacity from 70.5 degrees East serving Europe, Africa, Asia and as far as Australia.

Eutelsat 70B will undergo pre-service tests once in orbit and is expected to enter service in mid-January 2013.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Bank trims ProSiebenSat.1 guidance
2. Spaceport Cornwall updates status
3. ESA to choose SpaceX as launch gap-filler?
4. Bank: “Nordic Noir helps Viaplay”
5. Bank: “LADbible outperforming the market”
6. Analyst trims WBD expectations
7. Satellite operators talk merger, and lose billions
8. Judge confirms Kevin Spacey $31m penalty
9. Biden’s $52bn for chipset production

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite