The Conquest of 1° West

 

The 1° West orbital location (359° East for you Intelsat old-timers) is about to get hot in the European market. Astra and Eutelsat are the incumbents — primarily using 19.2° East and 13° East, respectively. In Eastern Europe, the growing satellite TV markets have their antennae pointed at 1° West, where Intelsat and Telenor are betting they came fill their capacity quickly. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts over the next year or so.

Thor-6 launches tomorrow, along with NSS-12, via an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana (watch it live here).