KA-SAT


KA-SAT is a high-throughput telecommunications satellite owned by Eutelsat. The satellite provides broadband Internet access services across Europe and also a small area of the Middle East, and additionally the Saorsat TV service to Ireland. It is positioned at 9°E, joining the Eurobird 9A Ku band satellite. KA-SAT was manufactured by EADS Astrium, based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, with a total weight of 6 tons. It was launched by Proton in December 2010. The satellite is named after the Ka band frequency, which is used on the spacecraft.

Spacecraft

The spacecraft is equipped with four multi-feed deployable antennas with enhanced pointing accuracy and a high-efficiency repeater. It is configured with 82 spotbeams, making it the most advanced multi-spot satellite designed in the world to date. Each spotbeam is associated with a 237 MHz wide transponder, allowing a data bit rate throughput of 475 Mbit/s per spot.
The spacecraft power is about 14 kW and the payload DC power is 11 kW. The solar array power provides up to 16 kW.
The payload mass is about 1000 kg, the dry mass is about 3170 kg, the launch mass was 6100 kg.
The manoeuvre lifetime in orbit is estimated to 16 years.

Broadband Internet access service

According to Eutelsat, KA-SAT will be able to provide broadband Internet access to potentially more than one million homes. The company invested about €350 million in the program, including the satellite manufacturing and launch.
KA-SAT features a high level of frequency reuse enabling the system to achieve a total capacity of more than 90 Gbit/s. The introduction of KA-SAT has tripled the total capacity commercialized by Eutelsat.
The satellite operates in conjunction with ten terrestrial teleports providing Internet gateway services, parts of the Eutelsat's Tooway service, all of them linked by the "KA-SAT ring", a terrestrial telecommunication high-speed network. The service is centrally operated from Skylogic's NOC based in Torino .

Communication systems

The data communications used on the KA-SAT satellite are transmitted to and from equipment manufactured by ViaSat:
"SurfBeam 2" is a modified version of the DOCSIS protocol adapted by ViaSat Inc. for the satellite physical link.