On 9 October Eutelsat 5 West B successfully blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Proton-M launch vehicle.

Eutelsat 5 West B has been built by the US company Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems on a GEOStar-2e platform. The satellite has a launch mass of 2740 kg and a payload of 35 Ku Band repeaters supplied by Airbus Defence and Space.

This satellite, replacing Eutelsat 5 West A, will be slotted into the orbital position 5 degrees west, from where, over the next 15 years, it will be providing video services to Europe and North Africa. It is also carrying an EGNOS GPS-augmenting system.

EUTELSAT, one of GMV’s prime clients, is now working with GMV-developed systems for controlling its whole satellite fleet, pride of place going to the hifly^® based multi-satellite control system for NEO satellites and the flight dynamics system focussuite.