Hot Bird 13B
Hot Bird 13B, known as Hot Bird 8 prior to 2012, is a French communications satellite. Operated by Eutelsat, it provides direct to home broadcasting services from geostationary orbit as part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird constellation at a longitude of 13 degrees east.
Hot Bird 13B was constructed by Astrium, and is based on the Eurostar-3000 satellite bus. It has a mass of and is expected to operate for 15 years. The spacecraft has 64 Ku-band transponders, broadcasting satellite television and radio to Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East.
Hot Bird 8, as it was then named, was launched by a Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage. The launch took place from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, at 21:48:00 on 4 August 2006 with spacecraft separation occurring at 06:59:20 on 5 August. The launch was conducted by International Launch Services. The spacecraft was deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit, raising itself to its operational geostationary position at 13 degrees east by means of its apogee motor. The spacecraft is co-located with Hot Bird 13C and Hot Bird 13D.
