OREANDA-NEWS. October 22, 2009. Khrunichev Space Center specialists unloaded W7 spacecraft today from the transport container. The satellite is now accomodated in the test bench.

The foreign experts lay harness between W7 and the ground equipment.  mProton-M is scheduled to loft the satellite in the second half of November.

Eutelsat W7 will be a satellite in the family of W Series, operated by Eutelsat. It is going to be located at 36°E.

Manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, in its Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, based on a Spacebus 4000C4 platform, it will feature up to 74 Ku-band transponders (12 kW), a weight of about 5.5 tons, and will have a lifetime of about 15 years (up to 2024).