In October and November, two large communication satellites were launched into space to serve satellite television viewers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EMEA region). These are geostationary satellites Eutelsat Hot Bird 13F and Eutelsat Hot Bird 13G.
The Eutelsat Hot Bird 13F satellite was launched on October 15, 2022 by a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The same launch vehicle delivered the Eutelsat Hot Bird 13G satellite into space. This happened on November 3, 2022. This satellite also houses the EGNOS GEO 4 capacity (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) for EUSPA (European Space Programme Agency).
Both new satellites in the Eutelsat Hot Bird series will operate in the orbital position 13°E, where they will replace existing older satellites Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B, Eutelsat Hot Bird 13C and Eutelsat Hot Bird 13E.
The new spacecraft are fully electric, which means that launching the satellites into commercial operation will take longer. According to Eutelsat, the new satellites at the 13° E position will be commissioned in the second-third quarters of 2023.
The transfer of transponders with corresponding programs to new satellites in the Hot Bird family will take place in cooperation with customers of the French satellite operator Eutelsat.
Further plans regarding the existing Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B, 13C and 13E satellites are not yet known.