This spacecraft will be orbited as part of a multi-passenger payload on the February 12th flight, which will mark the start of another busy year of operations for Arianespace's workhorse heavy-lift launch vehicle. HOT BIRD-10 will be used by the Paris-based Eutelsat telecommunications operator, and is to be located at the company's 13 degrees East orbital location for video broadcast services. The spacecraft is based on EADS Astrium's Eurostar 3000 spacecraft bus design, and is identical to the HOT BIRD-9 relay platform successfully orbited by Arianespace's year-ending 2008 mission with Ariane 5 on December 20th.
For the upcoming Ariane 5 mission, HOT BIRD-10 will be joined by SES NEWSKIES' NSS-9 telecommunications satellite and two Spirale auxiliary passengers, which are demonstrators for a French defense spaceborne optical early warning system. Arianespace is targeting six to eight Ariane 5 missions in 2009.