EUTELSAT 7C arrival at Cayenne-Félix-Éboué airport, where the container with the satellite is unloaded from an Antonov cargo plane. (Arianespace)
Eutelsat’s latest high-power satellite has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana ahead of its Ariane 5 rocket launch on 20 June.
Built by Maxar Technologies, the 3.4 tonne Eutelsat 7C satellite will serve markets across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey through 49 36-MHz equivalent Ku-band transponders.
It will be co-located with Eutelsat 7B at 7 degrees East, increasing capacity the neighbourhood by 19 transponders. Eutelsat 7A will be relocated as part of Eutelsat’s fleet optimisation strategy.
The satellite will be launched alongside DirecTV 16 during a launch window opening at 21:43 UTC and closing at 23:30 UTC.
The satellite will go into full commercial service at the end of 2019 following all electric orbit raising and in orbit tests.
