Mission description
Thor 8 is a multi-purpose communications satellite for Space Norway. The satellite will both replace older satellites being phased out in the coming years and provide increased capacity and service offerings that offers capacity for both data services and broadcasting, such as high power direct-to-home (DTH) television services, from the 1° West orbital position. It carries two dedicated payloads for broadcasting in Europe and the Nordics, as well as payloads for data services to commercial and governmental customers. With a launch mass of 4 metric tons, the satellite will be built on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus-4000B2 platform and will operate in the Ka and Ku frequency bands.