Broadbandindia Magazine

Isro-built European satellite W2M along with Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 9 satellite for broadcasting services was successfully launched on 21 December. The Ariane-5 rocket was launched from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, South America. The W2M carries 32 transponders in Ku-band as against 64 transponders in the same band by Hot Bird.

Its transponders will be used for the broadcast of digital and the new highdefinition TV channels, besides interactive services. The satellites will cover a vast area extending across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

“W2M displays great flexibility to operate a wide range of services from television broadcasting to data networks and broadband. It has fixed beam coverage for Europe, North Africa and Middle East and a steerable beam which can be re-oriented in orbit according to market requirements, notably towards Africa and central Asia,” Antrix managing director Sreedhar Murthy pointed out.

The 3,462-kg W2M was designed and built at the satellite centre of Isro in Bangalore at $80 million (Rs 4 billion) for the European satellite operator (Eutelsat)   under the Isro-EADSAstrium alliance formed in 2006. The W2M satellite — operated by Eutelsat, a European telecommunications provider — has a designed life of 15 years.

Antrix had provided the main satellite structure for W2M, its mechanical subsystems, satellite control systems, propellants and tanks and power systems and solar panels. Antrix had also integrated and tested the satellite at Isro facilities in Bangalore. India has supplied space industry hardware and services for nearly 15 years and launched several satellites for foreign customers aboard the home-grown Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle beginning with Korean and German  minisatellites in 1999.

Antrix earnings touched Rs 940 crore during 2007-08, a 41% rise over the previous year. “But W2M marks our entry into the market for commercial satellites,” a senior Isro official said. Antrix has made “reasonable profits” from the W2M deal, the official said, but declined to provide details.

European partner Astrium delivered the communi – cations payload for the satellite which has up to 32 transponders — the wireless transmitter-receiver systems that relay broadcasting and data signals to Earth. Antrix is also responsible for early orbit operations — multiple firings of an onboard rocket motor through which  W2M will be guided from its initial elliptical orbit towards its final parking slot over 16°E longitude.

As per the statement of the ISRO, the scientists at the master control facility of agency are receiving the radio signals from the launched satellite and everything is functioning perfectly. During the launch of the Indian-built European satellite from the Guiana space centre at Kourou, ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair and seven other Indian scientists were also present.