Eutelsat 5 West A

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Eutelsat 5 West A
File:Stellat.JPG
Satellite Atlantic Bird 3
Mission type Communications
Operator Eutelsat
COSPAR ID 2002-035A[1]
SATCAT № 27460
Website www.eutelsat.com/en/satellites/the-fleet/EUTELSAT-5WA.html
Mission duration 17 years (anticipated)[2]
Spacecraft properties
Bus Spacebus 3000
Manufacturer Thales Alenia Space
Launch mass 4,050 kilograms (8,930 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 5 July 2002, 23:21 (2002-07-05UTC23:21Z) UTC
Rocket Ariane 5 G
Launch site Guyana Space Centre
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Geostationary
Longitude 5° west[1]
Perigee 35,770.8 kilometres (22,226.9 mi)[1]
Apogee 35,816.3 kilometres (22,255.2 mi)[1]
Inclination 0.0 degrees[1]
Period 1,436.1 minutes[1]
Transponders
Band C and Ku
Coverage area Americas, Africa, Europe

Eutelsat 5 West A, formerly Atlantic Bird 3 (or AB 3) is a communications satellite belonging to the operator Eutelsat. Situated at 5° west, it broadcasts satellite television, radio and other digital data. Developed for France Telecom it transferred soon after its launch to the operator Eutelsat. It entered operational service in early September 2002. Its current anticipated working life is 17 years.

History

Stellat 5, as it was originally known, was built by Alcatel Space on behalf of Stellat, a joint-venture between France Telecom (70%) and Europe*Star (30%), a subsidiary of Alcatel Space and Loral Space and Communications.[3] It was launched 5 July 2002 at 23:21 UTC by an Ariane 5 G rocket from Guyana Space Centre along with the Japanese satellite N-STAR C. It had a launch weight of 4,050 kilograms (8,930 lb). Victim of financial difficulties, France Télecom withdrew from space operations. In this move it sold Stellat to Eutelsat in July 2002. Early 30 December, the satellite entered operational service. On the 25, Eutelsat completed the acquisition for a sum of US$183.9 million and renamed the satellite Atlantic Bird 3.[4]

AB 3 took on the role covered by the satellites Telecom 1 and 2 C, operational between 1983 and 2002, in the historic French position of 5° longitude West. In March 2012 Eutelsat re-baptised its satellite fleet, and AB 3 was renamed Eutelsat 5 West A.

Technical characterisitics

Atlantic Bird 3 was assembled by Alcatel Space, later Alcatel Alenia Space, on a Spacebus 3000 3B platform. It was equipped with 35 Ku band repeaters covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle-East as well as 10 C band repeaters. The Ku band repeaters are 94 W. The 12 C band repeaters, 55 W, though only 10 can be simultaneously active.

During the eclipse of the spring 2004 equinox, the satellite lost 6 of its total of 108 battery elements, reducing its performance.[2]

Transmissions

French public analogue

Atlantic Bird 3 was launched to replace satellite Telecom 2C. It therefore took on the mission to continue the transmission of French national analogue TV channels to:

  • feed terrestrial transmitters of TDF;
  • reach receivers in zones not covered by the terrestrial transmission network

In France, Atlantic Bird 3 enabled Eutelsat to serve 1.6 million households (of nearly 23 million with televisions) who otherwise did not receive a signal at all, or who received a poor or unreliable signal ("snow", echos, interference, fog, repeated storm damage of mountain transmitters). No other free alternative existed. Transmissions were made in SÉCAM, the standard used in France.

Reception of analogue satellite TV can be achieved with relatively basic equipment:

Terrestrial analogue transmissions ceased in France 29 November 2011 and the analogue satellite service reduced accordingly thereafter.

French public digital

With the arrival of digital terrestrial television in France, notably 18 or 19 free national channels attributed by the CSA, this satellite was chosen to feed terrestrial transmitters from March 2005. Householders could also use AB3 to receive French digital TV: Télévision Numérique Terrestre (TNT) :

  • The majority of public French channels (France 2, France 3 via the signal « France 3 Sat », France 5, La Chaîne parlementaire, France Ô) can be received with any DVB-S compatible receiver;
  • Regional programmes of France 3, access to Arte and France 4 are only available within the bouquet of Fransat with a specific Fransat demodulator or otherwise within subscription bouquets of Bis or Orange.
  • Numeorous local channels have chosen this satellite for free transmission of their programmes: Télé Grenoble Isère, Mirabelle TV, TV8 Mont Blanc, Télé Locale Provence (TLP), Normandie TV, Vosges Télévision and NRJ Paris Sat.
  • Some private French channels also transmit freely: Télé Monte Carlo (TMC), BFM Business, KTO, Dieu TV, Demain TV as well as the channel TV5 Monde (under the French Belgian Swiss version).
  • National digital TV channels are also distributed using a Newtec proprietary encapsulation encoding, which are only receivable with a terminal having the related demultiplexing function.

Hybrid Analog / digital demodulators have permitted continued access to free-to-air national channels during the transition. Since the end of 2011 and the termination of analogue broadcasting on Atlantic Bird 3, now requires a subscription to one of the two packages present on the satellite or a Fransat labelled terminal.

The various packages offering bouquets of digital channels are:

The terminals compatible with these bouquets employ MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 (thus backwards compatible with 2) for encrypted broadcasts.

Regulatory Obligations for the FRANSAT bouquet

In the 2007 bill "the future of television" French senators voted for an article requiring national digital TV broadcasters to make their free-to-air channels available to viewers via at least one satellite distributor or channel editor within a maximum period of three months from the date of enactment of the law confirmed by the vote of Deputies. This law passed through a fixed joint commission of 2 chambers, because the text was amended and adopted permanently. The PS group that had challenged before the Constitutional Council was dismissed on 28 February 2008.

In a report published by the Secretariat of State for Strategic Studies,[5] it was planned to create a 2nd free satellite offer to over 1.5 million households already facing Atlantic Bird 3 without redirecting their existing satellite dish, in addition to the TNTSAT offer managed by the Canal+ Group. Announced on 8 February 2009 by Eutelsat, this offer designated FRANSAT joined AB3 in June 2009.

Chronology

  • 02/03/2005: start of French terrestrial digital TV "TNT" transmissions
  • 10/05/2007: TNT group abandoned management of a project for a TNT satellite bouquet
  • 13/09/2007: reorganisation of multiplexes, France 4 left GR1 and was therefore no longer directly accessible
  • 20/09/2007: initiation of a bouquet under the auspices of AB Group with Eutelsat
  • 25/09/2007: logo appears for the Bis bouquet managed by AB SAT
  • 01/12/2007: Arrival of TNT Algeria channels (ENTV, Canal Algérie, Algérie 3) on the (adjustable) beam centered on the Maghreb
  • 02/12/2007: CNES TV is seen on AB 3.
  • 05/12/2007: Official announcement of the arrival of Bis Television on AB 3
  • 18/12/2007: start of the broadcast bouquet Bis Télévisions
  • 28/12/2007: Fox Life is observed on AB 3 and then from mid-April, encrypted in BISS.
  • 11/04/2008: Orange (France Telecom) announced the selection of AB 3 for the dissemination of its bouquet.
  • 09/09/2008: TMC stopped running unencrypted in DVB-S (SCPC)
  • 13/11/2008: Orange TV offer available
  • 07/04/2009: Eutelsat announces the imminent commissioning of free FRANSAT bouquet
  • 23/06/2009: Launch of the FRANSAT bouquet of FTA channels TNT, including HD and France Ô
  • 21/07/2009: restructure of the composition of transponders, pooling Fransat, Bis TV and Orange TV
  • 28/10/2009: addition of 24 digital regional broadcasts of France 3 in FRANSAT
  • 08/06/2010: The frequency change of Arte on TNT causes the disappearance of digital Arte clear in favour of France Ô
  • 01/08/2011: Arrival of an encrypted bouquet of 3 Berber channels: Berber Youth, Berber Music, Berber Television
  • 29/11/2011: start of termination of analogue broadcasting operational since mid-1980
  • 01/03/2012: new name for AB 3: EUTELSAT 5 WEST A
  • 30/05/2012: Diffusion bouquet Bein Sport 1 HD and SD (BeIN Sport 2 during August)
  • 12/12/2012: HD broadcast of the latest 6 new channels (HD1,L'Équipe 21, 6ter, Numéro 23, RMC Découverte and Chérie 25).
  • 19/05/2015: Addition of TMC HD, NT1 and NRJ 12 HD.[6]
  • 09/09/2015: Addition of France 4 HD and France 5 HD.[7]

Free to air channels on Eutelsat 5 West A[8]

KC 110.971 GHz V 29950 7/8 KB4 11.609 Ghz V 5969 1/2
KB1 11.471 Ghz V 29950 3/4
  • D!CI TV (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence)
 KB11 11.634 Ghz H 29950 3/4
KC3 11.054 Ghz V 29950 7/8 KB2 11.512 Ghz V 29950 7/8
KC9 11.059 Ghz H 23700 3/4 KB3 11.555 Ghz V 29950 7/8
KC4 11.096 Ghz V 29950 3/4 KB4 11.591 Ghz V 20000 2/3 KA2 12.564 Ghz V 29950 7/8

References

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External links

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