The first Greek-Cypriot satellite, the geostationary communications satellite Hellas-Sat was built by Astrium for the Hellas-Sat Consortium and launched on 13 May 2003. A significant part of the satellite’s mission was to provide television and telecommunications services for the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. The high-power Hellas-Sat spacecraft is a Eurostar E2000+ model equipped with 30 active transponders operating in Ku-band. Two deployable antennas provide pan-European coverage, including Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, while two steerable beams can be moved to cover South Africa and the Middle East.
The spacecraft’s launch mass was 5,600 kg. Operating at 39° East, the satellite has a lifetime of 15 years.
