ASTRIUM has been selected by DIRECTV to design and manufacture DIRECTV 15, a new high-power telecommunications satellite to provide back-up capacity and fleet expansion for television services to U.S. customers in homes and businesses. Based on ASTRIUM’s highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform, the new satellite, DIRECTV 15, will have a payload comprising 30 high power transponders in Ku-band, 24 transponders in Ka-band, 18 transponders in Reverse Band, and will be able to operate from up to five orbital locations from 99 degrees West to 119 degrees West, covering Continental U.S. (CONUS), Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. DIRECTV 15 is scheduled for launch in 2014. The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 6,300 kg, an electrical power of 16 kW and is designed to deliver more than 15 years of in-orbit operations.
Astrium's E3000 platform