A malfunction after launch of the Eutelsat 5 West B satellite, has resulted in the loss of around 45% of its capacity following a solar array failure.
Despite Eutelsat’s findings from its investigation into the malfunction, the company is confident that the “satellite performance remains nominal”.
Eutelsat have decided that, despite the loss of the solar array, that the satellite will still enter commercial service in the coming weeks, and anticipate it will function without its ‘south solar array’ expecting it to “meet the designed life time”.
In a statement, Eutelsat added; “A number of mitigation actions aimed at assuring service continuity will be implemented, following the end of life in stable orbit of Eutelsat 5 West A, for the largest possible number of customers.
“Eutelsat 5 West B is fully insured against the eventuality of a partial or total loss by a launch-plus-one-year insurance for up to 173 million euros.
“The partial non-availability of Eutelsat 5 West B will reduce Financial Year 2019-20 revenues for the Operating Verticals by 5 to 10 million euros.The one-off cost of mitigation, mostly related to the re-pointing of ground antennae will be between 0 and 10 million euros.
“In consequence, Eutelsat’s revenue objective for Financial Year 2019-20 is mechanically revised to between €1,270 million and €1,315 million for the Operating Verticals.
“All other financial objectives are unchanged.”
Founded in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the world’s leading satellite operators. With a global fleet of satellites and associated ground infrastructure, Eutelsat enables clients across Video, Data, Government, Fixed and Mobile Broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their location.
Around 7,000 television channels operated by leading media groups are broadcast by Eutelsat to one billion viewers equipped for DTH reception or connected to terrestrial networks.