Hot Bird 13B

Hot Bird 13B, known as Hot Bird 8 prior to 2012, is a French communications satellite. Operated by Eutelsat, it provides direct to home broadcasting services from geostationary orbit as part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird constellation at a longitude of 13 degrees east.

Hot Bird 13B was constructed by Astrium, and is based on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus. It has a mass of 4,875 kilograms (10,748 lb) and is expected to operate for 15 years. The spacecraft has 64 Ku-band transponders,[1] broadcasting satellite television and radio to Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East.[2]

Hot Bird 8, as it was then named, was launched by a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch took place from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, at 21:48:00 on 4 August 2006[3] with spacecraft separation occurring at 06:59:20 on 5 August.[4] The launch was conducted by International Launch Services.[5] The spacecraft was deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit, raising itself to its operational geostationary position at 13 degrees east by means of its apogee motor. The spacecraft is co-located with Hot Bird 13C and Hot Bird 13D.