Geo eye spy: first Eurostar Neo selfie from Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD 13F satellite

Toulouse, 24 March 2023 - The Airbus-built Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F satellite has reached its geostationary orbit, 36,000km away after five months of Electric Orbit Raising (EOR). It has completed comprehensive testing at its orbital position ahead of entering full service. For this purpose, it was equipped with a camera at the tip of one of the robotic arms hosting the electric propulsion thrusters, allowing us to share this satellite selfie.

HOTBIRD 13F is the first Eurostar Neo, the new family of telecommunication satellites designed and built by Airbus and developed under the European Space Agency's (ESA) Partnership Projects, together with the French space agency CNES, and strongly supported by the UK Space Agency and other agencies across Europe. 

Click here for more information about Airbus telecom satellites including Eurostar Neo

With its twin satellite HOTBIRD 13G, also built by Airbus and launched only three weeks later, the duo of state of the art satellites will begin serving Eutelsat’s customers in the coming weeks, from the key orbital slot at 13 degrees east, replacing three satellites from the previous generation to deliver 1000 television channels to more than 160 million TV homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Latest news on HOTBIRD 13F here 

Airbus electric propulsion expertise
Airbus pioneered EOR on Eutelsat’s E172B satellite launched in 2017. Since then, and in less than 10 years, full-electric propulsion has become the standard for all Airbus Telecommunication satellites with more than 20 satellites ordered.