An Ariane 5 ECA rocket boosted into orbit the HOT BIRDâ„¢ 7A telecommunication satellite. The event took place on Saturday, at Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:32 pm (local time).

The new satellite is based on the Alcatel Alenia Space’s Spacebus 3000B3 platform, and will join Eutelsat’s HOT BIRDâ„¢ family of satellites co-located at 13 degree East. It will currently broadcast 850 television channels and 550 radio channels to 110 million homes over Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. And, with a larger antenna, HOT BIRD 7A signals can be received in Moscow and Dubai. But its first mission is to replace HOT BIRDâ„¢ 1, the satellite that has provided more than a decade of service at 13 degrees East.

HOT BIRD 7A was assembled and integrated at Alcatel Space’s Cannes and Toulouse plants in southern France.Designed with a lifetime of 15 years, HOT BIRD 7A has 38 Ku-band transponders, a launch mass of 4,100 Kg and its solar panels will deliver 10 kW of electrical power. The other 20 transponders will be available for potential back-up and replacement capacity for the Hotbird 2, 3 and 4 satellites.

“Alcatel Alenia Space and Eutelsat have been partnering for nearly 20 years. With 16 Alcatel Alenia Space-built satellites provided to Eutelsat to date, we are extremely proud of this long-term position as a preferred supplier,� said Pascale Sourisse, President and CEO of Alcatel Alenia Space.

In July 2003, Alcatel Alenia Space won the contract for Hotbird 7A. The order for the new satellite follows the loss of Hotbird 7 during its launch in the 11^th of December 2002.

The coverage zones are depicted below.

Picture courtesy by Eutelsat.