PARIS: Eutelsat has announced that its W5 satellite is ready for launch by a Delta IV rocket developed by Boeing Expendable Launch Systems from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The new satellite is set for lift-off on 16 November during a launch window that opens at 22.38 UTC and closes at 23.49 UTC.

After launch, W5 will be positioned at 70.5 degrees East, a key orbital position that presents Eutelsat with the opportunity to substantially reinforce its market presence in the whole of Asia in complement to the companys SESAT satellite.

Delivered to Eutelsat by Alcatel Space and equipped with 24 Ku-band transponders with 72 MHz bandwidth, W5 is configured with one fixed Widebeam covering western Europe, central Asia and the Indian sub-continent and two steerable spotbeams. The steerable spotbeams can cover north-east Asia including the whole of China and Mongolia as far as Korea and southern Japan, and south-east Asia as far as northern parts of Australia.

The launch will be broadcast in Europe in digital free-to-air on Eutelsats HOT BIRD 6 satellite via an uplink managed by Telespazio through its Fucino facilities (downlink frequency 11.179 GHz, horizontal polarisation, 27.5 Msymb/s, FEC, Channel ID 4901). A set of four specially built cameras have been attached to the outside and inside structures of the Delta IV booster in order to provide footage as it pulls away from earth through the outer limits of the atmosphere into space.