Atlantic Bird was a series of satellites operated by

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...

over the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. In 2012 the series was merged into Eutelsat's main fleet as part of the company's rebranding. Two of the original three satellites replaced the

France Telecom Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...

Telecom 2 satellites which Eutelsat had acquired in 1999. Five satellites were in operation as of 2006: * Atlantic Bird 1, operating at 12.5°W * Atlantic Bird 2, launched in September 2001 and operating at 8°W (Replaced Telecom 2A) * Atlantic Bird 3, a

Spacebus Spacebus is a satellite bus produced at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center in France by Thales Alenia Space. Spacebuses are typically used for geostationary communications satellites, and seventy-four have been launched since development started ...

3000B3, operating at 5°W (Replaced Telecom 2C) * Atlantic Bird 4, operated at 7°W (Formerly

Hot Bird Hot Bird (also styled Hotbird) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East. Only digital r ...

4, also known as

Nilesat Egyptian Satellites Co SAE or Nilesat (; or , ) is a company and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1996 by the government of Egypt with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associ ...

103) * Atlantic Bird 7, launched in September 2011 and operating at 7°W

References

Communications satellites {{France-spacecraft-stub