Astrium E3000

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The Astrium E3000 is a model of communication satellite manufactured by EADS Astrium; it is a member of Astrium's Eurostar family. It uses chemical station-keeping thrusters, and was the first commercial satellite family to use lithium-ion batteries, rather than nickel-based technologies, for power supply during eclipses.

As always, the basic E3000 bus can be modified extensively to meet customer requirements, but E3000 satellites all have a launch mass of around 4500 kilograms, and 35-metre solar arrays providing between nine and ten kilowatts at end of life. They tend to feature around fifty transponders, of which around 32 are Ku-band and the remainder C-band.

Satellites built around the E3000 platform include Hispasat's Amazonas, Telesat's Anik F1R and Anik F3, Eutelsat's W3A, and the Inmarsat 4 series of satellites; Inmarsat 4 uses 45-metre solar arrays providing 14 kilowatts, and has a large deployable reflector as main antenna.

[edit] References

[1] Astrium's page about the satellite.