Eutelsat 115 West B
Eutelsat 115 West B is a communications satellite that is operated by Eutelsat, providing video, data, government, and mobile services for the Americas. The satellite was designed and manufactured by Boeing Space Systems, and is a Boeing 702SP model communication satellite. It is located at 115 degrees west longitude. It was launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 2 March 2015.
The satellite is solely propelled by electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, with the onboard thrusters used for both geostationary orbit insertion and station keeping.
The satellite had a launch mass of. It is notable for being the first commercial communications satellite in orbit to use electric propulsion, providing a significant weight savings. Eutelsat 115 West B was launched with another Boeing 702SP satellite, ABS-3A, on the same rocket.
Eutelsat 115 West B is planned to be the first in a family of four satellites in the Eutelsat constellation. The satellite was scheduled for entry into service in November 2015, but entered service a month earlier than expected, in October 2015.
Launch
The launch occurred on March 2, 2015, at 03:50 UTC and the satellite has been deployed in the planned supersynchronous transfer orbit.The launch is also notable for being the first flight of Boeing's stacked satellite configuration for the Boeing 702SP,
a configuration Boeing designed specifically to take advantage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 capabilities.