HOT BIRD 9 was a three-axis stabilized satellite with a designed operational lifetime of more than 15 years.
HOT BIRD 9 had an advertised liftoff mass of 4,880 kg.
HOT BIRD 9 was completed in July 2008 and arrived in Kourou from Toulouse on September 16, 2008 for launch preparations.
HOT BIRD 9 had an end-of-life power specification of 14.5 kW.
Arianespace's initial schedule set liftoff of the HOT BIRD 9 and W2M Ariane 5 mission for the night of December 10, 2008 with a UTC launch window from 21:35 to 22:45 on December 11, 2008.
HOT BIRD 9 was installed atop a SYLDA dispenser and was the upper passenger on Ariane 5's payload stack, with HOT BIRD 9 scheduled to be released first and to be deployed approximately 27 minutes into the flight.
HOT BIRD 9 was built by EADS Astrium and was configured with 64 Ku-band transponders.
EADS Astrium was prime contractor for both HOT BIRD 9 and W2M's communications payloads and program management roles.
On November 7, 2008 HOT BIRD 9 was fueled ('topped off') in the S5A fueling hall at the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building.
As of December 11, 2008 the Kourou launch window for the Ariane 5 HOT BIRD 9/W2M mission was scheduled from 18:51 to 19:50 local time on December 20, 2008 and the UTC window was scheduled from 21:51 to 22:50 on December 20, 2008.
On December 19, 2008 the Ariane 5 ECA with HOT BIRD 9 and W2M rolled out from the Final Assembly Building at 11:00 a.m. for a 2.8 km transfer to the ELA-3 launch area and arrived on the launch pad 1 hour 15 minutes later.
Arianespace Flight 186 was planned to orbit Eutelsat's HOT BIRD 9 and W2M satellites as the sixth Ariane 5 launch of 2008.