(to Western Hemisphere,Eastern Hemisphere,Footprints by Dish Size)
(e. hemi. list)

Vanessa O'Connor - Press Office / Service Presse Tel: 33 1 53 98 47 57 / 38 88 Fax: 33 1 53 98 37 88 e-mail: voconnor@eutelsat.fr - Ilegros@eutelsat.fr PR/20/98 HOT BIRD™ 5 SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED! EUTELSAT completes the HOT BIRD™ constellation at 13 degrees East Cape Canaveral, October 9, 1998: With the launch of its second satellite in one week EUTELSAT has boosted its network to 13 satellites, reaffirming its position as Europe's largest satellite operator. HOT BIRD™ 5 was successfully launched at 10.50 pm GMT on October 9 by an Atlas IIA launcher (AC-134) provided by ILS. The launch came four days after the launch of W2 which is currently on its way to geostationary orbit. After separation from the Atlas launcher, control of HOT BIRD™ 5 was assumed by the Toulouse technical centre of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (France). A number of critical manoeuvres will be carried out over the next few hours including first sun acquisition and partial deployment of the solar arrays. Manoeuvres to be conducted over the next six days include three firings of the apogee motor, total deployment of the solar arrays, deployment of the East and West reflectors and final earth acquisition. With the entry into service next month of HOT BIRD™ 5 (replacing EUTELSAT II-F1) EUTELSAT will be able to fully utilise the frequency spectrum available at 13 degrees East and offer multiple coverage and bandwidth solutions to television and radio broadcasters and multimedia service providers. The new satellite will also be the first to commercialise SKYPLEX, EUTELSAT's unique on-board digital multiplexing facility which enables individual carriers to be uplinked from disparate locations and downlinked in a single DVB multiplex to consumer decoders. The HOT BIRD™ family of five satellites at 13 degrees East is one of the largest satellite systems in the world, broadcasting television, radio and multimedia services into 70 million homes in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. EUTELSAT satellites at other orbital positions are also used for business networks, telephony and the EUTELTRACS messaging and positioning service for trucks and fishing vessels. European Telecommunications Satellite Organization - Organisation Européenne de Télécommunications par Satellite 70, rue Balard 75502 Paris cedex 15 - France.