5° West

LAUNCHED: 05/07/2002

CONSTRUCTOR: Alcatel Space

LAUNCHER: Ariane 5

EUTELSAT 5 West A is a high-powered spacecraft, providing an exceptional range of connectivity combinations with its mix of Ku and C-band frequencies.

The satellite delivers two-way broadband internet access, broadcast services and corporate networks to large audiences. It also plays a key role in the network infrastructure being deployed across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin for the digital switchover, distributing digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals to head-end transmitters.

EUTELSAT 5 West A features a Euro-Mediterranean superbeam coverage, a unique pan-Atlantic widebeam coverage encompassing the Americas, Africa and Europe, and a steerable antenna that can be pointed over any one of these regions, including the Middle East. It also offers C-band capacity for the pan-African market and Caribbean area.

LAUNCH: 9/10/2019

CONSTRUCTOR: Airbus Defence & Space and Northrop Grumman

LAUNCHER: Proton Breeze M

EUTELSAT 5 West B is located at 5° West, a key digital infrastructure addressing predominantly French, Italian and Algerian broadcast markets.

The satellite is co-located with EUTELSAT 5 West A, ensuring service continuity for over 300 TV channels broadcast at the 5° West position. It provides business continuity for services via a Ku-band payload with switchable transponders to increase commercial flexibility.

EUTELSAT 5 West B also hosts the GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS). The EGNOS’ GEO-3 payload is designed to improve the performance of global navigation satellite systems in Europe.

Airbus Defence and Space and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) were selected to build the new satellite. Airbus Defence and Space has built the satellite’s payload while the platform was manufactured by NGIS.

EUTELSAT 5 West A remains operational in orbit at 5° West to carry out other missions.