Eutelsat Communications’ latest satellite has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Its due to be launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket on September 30, overseen by International Launch Services.
The Airbus Defence and Space and Northrop Grumman-built satellite will take up position at 5 degrees West, where it will replace Eutelsat 5 West A.
The new satellite has a payload of 35 equivalent 36 MHz transponders.
Under a long-term agreement signed with the European GNSS Agency (GSA), Eutelsat 5 West B will also host the GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), used to improve the performance of global navigation satellite systems such as GPS and Galileo.
