Eutelsat 33E
The spacecraft has 64 Ku-band transponders,[1] broadcasting satellite television and radio to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.Two French military satellites, Spirale-A and Spirale-B were also carried, as secondary payloads.[3] The launch took place from ELA-3 at Kourou, French Guiana, at 22:09 UTC on 12 February 2009.Upon its entry into service, prior to becoming part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird fleet, the Hot Bird 10 satellite was used to cover two orbital positions for satellites still awaiting launch.[5] It was moved to 13 degrees east in July 2013 and renamed Hot Bird 13D under the new designation system Eutelsat had introduced in 2012.