EUTELSAT II F-1, is a decommissioned
communications satellite operated by the
European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT). Launched in 1990, it was operated in
geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...
at a
longitude of 13° East, before moving to several other locations later in its operational life, before it was finally decommissioned in 2003.
History
The
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) has been servicing the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(CEE) since 1977, being formally established by a multi-lateral agreement in 1985.
The EUTELSAT II series satellites was launched in a geostationary orbit over
Europe. Four EUTELSAT II satellites were successfully launched between 1990 and 1992 (1990, 1991, 1991, and 1992). They served both public and private traffic, including telephone services, fax, data, land mobile service, and television and radio programming. Each had a design life of 10 years and a bandwidth of 14/11
GHz.
[ ] EUTELSAT II F-5 was lost in an
Ariane 4 launch failure in 1994.
Satellite description
The EUTELSAT II F-1 spacecraft, had a mass at launch of .
Constructed by
Aérospatiale
Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...
, it was designed to be operated for ten years and carried 16
Ku-band transponders, with eight spares.
The satellite contained a
S400 solid rocket motor to perform orbit circularisation at
apogee. Eutelsat II employs two, 1.6 m diameter reflectors, one on each side of the satellite bus.
Launch
Eutelsat II F-1 was launched by
Arianespace, using an
Ariane 44LP H10 launch vehicle, flight number V38. The launch took place at 22:46:00
UTC on 30 August 1990, from
ELA-2 at
Centre Spatial Guyanais
The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...
, at
Kourou,
French Guiana.
Successfully deployed into
geostationary transfer orbit
A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellite, Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous orbit, geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into ...
(GTO), EUTELSAT II F-1 raised itself into an operational geostationary orbit using its
apogee motor.
Mission
Following commissioning operations, the EUTELSAT II F-1 satellite was moved to its operational orbital position at 13° East, entering service on 24 September 1990. The satellite was decommissioned in October 2003. It is in a
graveyard orbit.
References
{{Orbital launches in 1984
Spacecraft launched in 1984
Eutelsat satellites