The Eutelsat 9B satellite, which is due to be launched in Q2, 2015, will strengthen the operator’s 9 degrees East position.
The satellite is at the moment undergoing its final test before it will be put in safe storage forf its launch sometime next year by an ILS Proton vehicle from the Baikunur cosmodrome in Kazakstan.
The Eutelsat 9B will be a Ku-band satellite only, with five footprints; a broad European beam, a regional beam for Germany, as well as an extended beam for Germany, one for Italy, one for Greece and finally one for the Nordic/Baltic region. The satellite will be brought in commercial service during the third quarter of 2015.
The 50-transponder satellite will take 9 degrees East to a new level of performance, increasing resources by 12 additional transponders. Capacity will be spread across , with frequency reuse significantly increasing overall bandwidth.
At the moment, the 9 degrees East position is used by OTE (Greece), the M7 Group for its KabelKiosk B2B platform and for AustriaSat. There are currently 330 TV channels broadcast from this orbital position, used by six Pay TV platform, 265 pay TV channels and 65 HD channels. There are 20 different languages broadcast from the satellite reaching more than five million households.
In addition to its broadcast mission, Eutelsat 9B will host the EDRS A data relay payload for the European Data Relay Satellite System being implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between Astrium and ESA.
The EDRS system of telecommunications satellites in geostationary orbit will enable very high data rate, bi-directional data relay communications between Low Earth Orbit Earth observation satellites and an associated ground segment.
