Eutelsat has assigned the launch of its EUTELSAT 70B (ex. W5A) communications satellite to Sea Launch to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The launch will occur from Sea Launch's launch platform Odyssey at its equatorial launch site, located at 154 degrees West longitude, in the international waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The EUTELSAT 70B satellite is being built by Astrium, an EADS company and is based on the Eurostar-3000 platform.

Weighing over 5,200 kilograms at lift-off, it will be lofted into an optimized geosynchronous transfer orbit on board the Zenit 3SL whose high performance should enable the satellite to exceed its designed in-orbit lifetime of 15 years.

EUTELSAT 70B is designed to optimise resources from a single orbital slot at the crossroads between Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

With high frequency reuse, four powerful regional beams connected to 48 Ku-band transponders will be located on a single platform. It will more than double current Eutelsat capacity at 70.5 degrees East for data and government services, broadband access, GSM backhauling and professional video exchanges.

"Our close coordination with RSC Energia in assuring production scheduling and mission assurance for Sea Launch missions continues to provide value for our customers", said Kjell Karlsen, President of Sea Launch AG. "We are very pleased to be selected by Eutelsat for this important mission."

David Bair, Eutelsat Chief Technical Officer added "Sea Launch and RSC Energia executed a flawless launch of our EUTELSAT 7 West A satellite in October 2011.

We look forward to working closely with the team again on the EUTELSAT 70B campaign and to seeing this new satellite strengthen our in-orbit resources and flexibility."