European Communications Satellite

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European Communications Satellite (ECS) is a series of geostationary communications satellites of EUTELSAT that from the Orbital Test Satellite were derived (OTS). On March 2, 1978 the European Space Agency (ESA) decided to build two ECS satellites. After a successful launch, the satellites were renamed "Eutelsat". The first launch of the series with ECS-1 took place on June 16, 1983 with an Ariane-1 rocket.

The modular three-axis stabilized Eutelsat satellites of the first generation were based on the ECS satellite bus . This consists of a box-shaped body (2.21 m high) with attached solar cell surfaces with a span of 13.8 m. The radio transmission was made in the frequency range of 11/14 GHz with an output power of 20 watts and allowed 12,600 telephone and two color television channels (10 + 2 Ku-band - Transponder F1, 12 + 2 Ku-band transponders F2 - F5). The satellites had an orbiting mass of 450 kg and a launch mass of around 1,150 kg. Their service life was designed for about seven years. Five ECS satellites were launched between 1983 and 1988 (one false launch).

This was followed by five satellites of the second Eutelsat generation between 1990 and 1995, one of which had a false start. These were directly called Eutelsat-II and were based on the Spacebus-2000 satellite bus . For an example see Eutelsat 2F2 .

List of satellites

Surname status begin Launcher Remarks
ECS-1 (Eutelsat I-F1) Out of service June 16, 1983 Ariane 1 success
ECS-2 (Eutelsat I-F2) Out of service 4th August 1984 Ariane 3 success
ECS-3 Out of service September 12, 1985 Ariane 3 Failure
ECS-4 (Eutelsat I-F4) Out of service September 16, 1987 Ariane 3 success
ECS-5 (Eutelsat I-F5) Out of service July 21, 1988 Ariane 3 success

literature

  • Hans-Martin Fischer: European news satellites, from Intelsat to TV-Sat. Stedinger-Verlag, Lemwerder 2006, ISBN 3-927697-44-3 .

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