Atlantic Bird 1, the commercial telecommunications satellite built by prime contractor Alenia Spazio, has started the communications acceptance tests. The activities will continue until the end of September, when it is expected that the satellite will be formally delivered to Cofiri/Eutelsat.
The satellite was launched on Wednesday August 28th at 7.45 p.m. local time (00.45 August 29th in Italy) and reached its nominal orbital position at 12.5 degrees West over the Atlantic Ocean after the firing of the Apogee Motor on August 30th.
Subsequently, Atlantic Bird was stabilized into its correct geostationary orbit and the antennas and solar panels deployed.
