Eutelsat 133 West A (E33C, Eurobird 1, E28A) at 133° West (inclined orbit)
| Position: | 133° West |
| Manufacturer: | Thales Alenia Space |
| Operator: | Eutelsat |
| Launch operator: | Arianespace |
| Launch vehicle: | Ariane 5ECA |
| Launch date: | 03/08/2001 |
| Expected lifetime: | 15+ Years |
Eutelsat 133 West A was formerly operating as Eutelsat 33C at 33° East. The satellite has been redeployed at 133° West and re-branded Eutelsat 133 West A. Eutelsat 33C was also known as Eutelsat 28A and Eurobird 1 before.
Once stationed at 28.5° East, Eurobird 1 was promoted as providing satellite coverage for all of Europe, and featured both analogue and digital television and radio services serving Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries. Many of the services it carried had previously been on Kopernikus 2 which had operated at 28.5° East since 1990. These stations slowly started to leave, mostly due to viewers/listeners in those target audiences moving to more traditional orbital positions like 19.2° East for Austria and the relatively new 23.5° East for the Czech and Slovak Republics.
On March 1st, 2012 Eutelsat renamed Eurobird 1 to Eutelsat 28A.
In August 2012 it was confirmed that, after some loss of power events on Eutelsat 28A, Eutelsat 48B would be redeployed to the orbital position of 28.5° East to ensure continuity of service.
In January 2014 satellite operator SES and Eutelsat agreed that SES would run the whole spectrum at the 28.5° East slot. Eutelsat leased eight transponders and commercializes 12 transponders from the Astra 2 fleet. The last active Eutelsat 28A transponders transferred to Astra 2E on June 29th, 2015. Eutelsat 28A was redeployed at 33° East and renamed into Eutelsat 33C on July 3rd, 2015, after Eutelsat’s renaming their satellites under a unified brand name in March 2012.
The satellite provides coverage of the Americas for data and mobility services and is currently operating in inclined orbit.
Eutelsat 133 West A was constructed by Alcatel Space (Thales Alenia Space) and was launched on March 8th, 2001 on an Ariane 5 rocket operated by launch operator Arianespace.
Eutelsat 133 West A (E33C, Eurobird 1, E28A) at 133° West (inclined orbit)
Eutelsat 133 West A (E33C, Eurobird 1, E28A) at 133° West (inclined orbit)
Arianespace Launch kit Eutelsat Eurobird 1Eutelsat 133 West A (E33C, Eurobird 1, E28A) at 133° West (inclined orbit)
