The Eurostar E3000 is a generic satellite model most commonly used for commercial and military

communications satellites A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

manufactured by

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus SE. Formed in 2014 in the restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), Airbus SE comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and divisions. Contributing 21% of Airbus reven ...

(formerly

Astrium Astrium was a European aerospace company and subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), headquartered in Paris. It designed, developed and manufactured civil and military space systems and provided related services ...

). It is a member of Airbus Defence and Space's

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...

family. It utilises a chemical, bi-propellant propulsion system for

orbit raising In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

and on-station manoeuvres with an optional plasma propulsion system (PPS). The PPS harnesses the Newtonian effect as a result of the ionisation of

xenon Xenon is a chemical element; it has symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

gas employed by the use of

Hall effect The Hall effect is the production of a voltage, potential difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor that is wikt:transverse, transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field wikt:perpendicul ...

plasma thrusters. This system is most commonly used for north–south station-keeping. The E3000 was the first commercial satellite family to use lithium–ion batteries rather than the older nickel-based technologies for power supply during eclipses. The E3000 bus can be modified extensively to meet customer requirements, but most of the E3000 satellites have a launch mass of between , and solar arrays between providing between nine and sixteen kilowatts at end of life. They tend to feature between 50 and 90 transponders, most often in the

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...

and

C-band C band may refer to: * C band (IEEE), a radio frequency band from 4 to 8 GHz * C band (infrared), an infrared band from 1530 to 1565 nm (roughly 200 THz) * C band (NATO) The NATO C-band is the obsolete designation given to the radio frequen ...

. There have been 52 satellites built around the E3000 platform including ANASIS 2,

Hispasat Hispasat is the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa from orbital positions 30.0° West and 61.0° West. It was formed in 1989 and its activities include provision ...

Amazonas 1 Amazonas 1 or Hispasat 55W-1 was a communications satellite based on the Eurostar 3000 satellite bus and owned by satellites operator Hispasat, based in Madrid, Spain. It was launched on 5 August 2004, with a launch mass of 4,5 ton, on a Prot ...

and 2,

Arabsat-5A Arabsat-5A is a Saudi Arabian communications satellite operated by Arabsat. It will be used to provide television, internet and telephone services to Arabia, Africa and Europe. History Arabsat-5A was constructed by Astrium, and is based on the ...

, -5B, and -5C,

Astra 1M Astra 1M is a geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES. It is positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 19.2° East, from where it is used to provide direct to home (DTH) broadcasting to Europe, Africa, and the ...

, 1N, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3B and 5B,

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 ...

's W3A and

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 ...

8–10,

Intelsat 10-02 Intelsat 10-02 (or IS 10-02, Intelsat 1002, IS-1002, Intelsat Alpha-2, Intelsat X-02 and Thor 10-02) is a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Intelsat 10-02 is the first operational communications satellite to have its service life e ...

KA-SAT KA-SAT is a high-throughput geostationary telecommunications satellite owned by Viasat. The satellite provides bidirectional broadband Internet access services across Europe and a small area of the Middle East, and additionally the Saorsat TV se ...

Atlantic Bird Atlantic Bird was a series of satellites operated by Eutelsat over the Atlantic Ocean. 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 ...

7, 70B

Telesat Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company (law), company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Founding and privatization (1969-2005) Telesat began in 1969 as Telesat C ...

's Anik F1R, F3 and

Nimiq-4 Nimiq-4 is a Canadian geosynchronous communications satellite. It was launched aboard a Proton-M / Briz-M launch vehicle at 21:48:00 UTC on 19 September 2008. It was positioned at 82.0° West longitude, and operated by Telesat Canada. Spac ...

, Skynet 5A–C and the

Inmarsat Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...

4-series of satellites. Each of the three Inmarsat 4 in service has a large deployable reflector as the main antenna. In March 2015, Airbus Defence and Space received a delivery of new

3D-printed 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material i ...

brackets for mounting telemetry and tele-command antennas, being the first space-qualified 3D-printed component of its kind.

Eurostar E3000EOR

Also in March 2015, Airbus signed a contract with

Snecma Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It d ...

for 5-kilowatt PPS5000

Hall-effect thruster In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters (based on the discovery by Edwin Hall) are sometimes referred to as Hall thruste ...

s for the E3000 Electric Orbit Raising (E3000EOR) variant of the satellite bus. New thrusters would allow reducing the weight of a satellite by up to 40%., as

Türksat 5A Türksat 5A, is a Turkish communications satellite, operated by Türksat (company), Türksat A.Ş. for commercial and military purposes. History According to an agreement signed in September 2011, the satellite was developed by specialists i ...

and

Türksat 5B Türksat 5B is a Turkish geostationary high-throughput (HTS) communications satellite of Türksat A.Ş. developed for military and commercial purposes. Development The Türksat 5B project started in September 2011. The final production con ...

Eurostar Neo

An improved model based on the E3000 called the Eurostar Neo was announced in 2017, offering electric, hybrid, or chemical propulsion, in addition to a scalable power range of 7 kW to 25 kW.

References

External links

Airbus's page about the satellite
Satellite buses {{Spacecraft-stub