BrandWikiReturn

Astra (satellite)

Astra is the brand name for a number of geostationary communication satellites, both individually and as a group, which are owned and operated by SES, a global satellite operator based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg. The name is also used to describe the pan-European broadcasting system provided by these satellites, the channels carried on them, and even the reception equipment.

At the time of the launch of the first Astra satellite, Astra 1A in 1988, the satellite's operator was known as Société Européenne des Satellites ("European Satellite Company"). In 2001 SES Astra, a newly formed subsidiary of SES, operated the Astra satellites and in September 2011, SES Astra was consolidated back into the parent company, which by this time also operated other satellite families such as AMC, and NSS.[1][2]

Astra satellites broadcast 2,600 digital television channels (675 in high definition) via five main satellite orbital positions to households across Asia, Australia, Africa, Americas, Europe, New Zealand, Middle East and North Africa.[3] The satellites have been instrumental in the establishment of satellite TV and the introduction of digital TV, HDTV, 3D TV, and Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) in Europe.

A book, High Above, telling the story of the creation and development of the Astra satellites and their contribution to developments in the European TV and media industry, was published in April 2010 to mark the 25th anniversary of SES.

Satellites

There are 10 fully-operational Astra satellites and another 3 as backup/reserve, the majority in four orbital locations - Astra 19.2°E, Astra 28.2°E, Astra 23.5°E, Astra 5°E. Astra's principle of "co-location" (several satellites are maintained close to each other, all within a cube with a size of 150 km.[4]) increases flexibility and redundancy. Orbital data for the active satellites can be accessed here

Manufacture and launch

Astra satellites have been designed by Boeing Satellite Systems (formerly Hughes Space and Communications), Airbus Defence and Space (formerly Astrium), Alcatel Space, Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space. The Astra satellites within a family are not necessarily identical. For example, of the Astra 2 satellites; Astra 2A and Astra 2C were BSS 601HPs, Astra 2B an Astrium Eurostar E2000+, Astra 2D a BSS 376 and Astra 2E, Astra 2F and Astra 2G are all Eurostar E3000s.

The satellites have been launched by Arianespace by Ariane launch vehicles from Kourou, French Guiana, International Launch Services (ILS) Proton launch vehicles from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, ILS Atlas launch vehicles from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States and SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets also from Cape Canaveral. The satellites are launched into an elliptical "temporary transfer orbit" from where they use onboard propulsion to reach their final circular geostationary orbits, at nearly 36000 km altitude. Proton launch vehicles fitted with a fourth stage propulsion unit are capable of launching the satellites several thousand kilometres higher (at the closest point of the elliptical orbit) than Ariane launch vehicles, and so most satellites launched in this way use less fuel to reach their geostationary orbit. More recent Astra satellites are built with an all-electric propulsion system for orbit raising and in-orbit manoeuvres to save weight.

Sirius and Astra 4A

The Sirius series of satellites (not connected with the North American Sirius Satellite Radio service) was started in 1993 with the purchase of the BSB Marcopolo 1 satellite (renamed Sirius 1) by Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB) for direct to home broadcasts to the Nordic and Baltic regions from the 5°East orbital position. Subsequent satellites launched to this location include Sirius 2 (1997), Sirius 3 (1998) and Sirius 4 (2007) and the position's coverage has been expanded to include Eastern Europe and Africa.

In 2000, SES (then SES Astra) bought the 50% shareholding in NSAB owned by Teracom and Tele Danmark and in 2003 increased that holding to 75%, renaming the company SES Sirius AB. In 2008, Astra acquired further shares to take its shareholding in SES Sirius to 90% and in March 2010 took full control of the company.[84] In June 2010, the affiliate company was renamed SES Astra and the Sirius 4 satellite renamed Astra 4A.[85]

The Astra 4A designation was originally given in 2005 to part of the NSS-10 craft (33 transponders) owned by another subsidiary of SES, SES New Skies, and positioned at 37.5°W for broadcast, data, and telecommunications into Africa,[86] and in 2007 to part of the Sirius 4 satellite (six transponders of the FSS Africa beam) owned and operated by SES Sirius. From June 2010, the Astra 4A designation has applied to the entire satellite previously known as Sirius 4.

Failures

Astra 1K, the largest commercial communications satellite ever built at the time, was ordered by SES in 1997. It was launched by Proton rocket on 26 November 2002. The launch vehicle lifted off as planned and reached its parking orbit at which point the final stage of the launch vehicle was to initiate a second burn to transfer the satellite to its geostationary orbit. This did not occur and the satellite was released into the parking orbit, making it unusable. The only way to recover the satellite would have been the use of a Space Shuttle, however this was rejected. On 10 December 2002, SES instructed Alcatel Space (the manufacturer) and the French Space Agency CNES to deorbit the satellite, it broke up on re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.[87]

On 16 January 2009, Astra 5A at Astra 31.5°E "experienced a technical anomaly leading to the end of the spacecraft's mission",[88] some four years ahead of the spacecraft's expected end of life. Traffic carried by the satellite (especially channels for German cable service, Kabel Deutschland) was transferred to Astra 23.5°E. In March 2009, SES (then SES Astra) announced that in April, the Astra 2C satellite was to be moved from the Astra 28.2°E position to 31.5°E to temporarily take over Astra 5A's mission until Astra 3B is launched to Astra 23.5°E, when another craft currently there can be released to 31.5°E.[89] The move of Astra 2C was started in May 2009 and completed on 11 May 2009,[90] with the first transponders coming into use at the new position in the subsequent two weeks.

Broadcasting statistics

At the end of 2021, Astra satellite broadcasts were received in 170 million households in Europe.[91] In Germany, the largest market for Astra broadcasts, 17 million households receive TV via satellite (15.93 million receiving satellite channels in HD) out of 37.22 million TV households (33.76 million HD TV households) in the country with take-up of other TV delivery methods as follows:[92]

See also

External links

References

  1. New logo and brand identity presented at IBC in Amsterdam SES, 9 September 2011^
  2. SES Operates Under New Management Structure Space Daily. 3 May 2011. Accessed 27 July 2017^
  3. Veronica Magan SES TV Channels Grow by 11.3% in 2015 Satellite Today 13 January 2016. Accessed 1 December 2016^
  4. Bains, Geoff "The Failsafe Family" What Satellite & Digital TV April, 2012, p. 29^
  5. 19.2°E ses.com. Accessed 30 May 2023^
  6. New SES Satellite ASTRA 1N Operational SES, 24 October 2011^
  7. 28.2°E ses.com. Accessed 30 May 2023^
  8. ASTRA 2E successfully launched SES, 30 September 2013, retrieved 30 September 2013^
  9. SES' ASTRA 2E SATELLITE STARTS OPERATIONS SES, 31 January 2014, retrieved 1 February 2014^
  10. SES SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES ASTRA 2F SATELLITE SES, 1 October 2012, retrieved 20 May 2016^
  11. SES Orders Four New Satellites From ASTRIUM SES ASTRA, 30 November 2009, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  12. ASTRA 2F arrives at the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou 23 August 2012 SES blog. Accessed 26 August 2012^
  13. SES' ASTRA 2F SATELLITE STARTS OPERATIONS SES, 21 November 2012, retrieved 27 December 2012^
  14. ASTRA 2G SATELLITE ROARS INTO ORBIT SES, 28 December 2014, retrieved 1 January 2015^
  15. http://www.satellite-calculations.com/ accessed 28 June 2015^
  16. 23.5°E ses.com. Accessed 30 May 2023^
  17. ASTRA 3B SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED SES ASTRA, 22 May 2010, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  18. SES: ASTRA 5B SATELLITE GOES LIVE AT 31.5° EAST SES, 2 June 2014, retrieved 27 June 2014^
  19. ASTRA 5B N2YO.com. Accessed 26 September 2023^
  20. SES Fleet Map SES. Accessed 25 December 2023^
  21. Astra 5B as Astra 3C broadcasts the first programmes for Skylink (Czech) Parabola.cz 1 December 2023. Accessed 25 December 2023^
  22. 5°E ses.com. Accessed 30 May 2023^
  23. 19.2E KingOfSat. Accessed 27 March 2025^
  24. 19.2E KingOfSat. Accessed 27 March 2025^
  25. ASTRA 1L N2YO.com. Accessed 30 March 2025^
  26. New ASTRA 1M Satellite Ready For Operation SES ASTRA, 20 January 2009, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  27. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 2 August 2014^
  28. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 30 September 2014^
  29. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 30 November 2014^
  30. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 February 2017^
  31. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 26 October 2015^
  32. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 26 February 2018^
  33. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 24 November 2021^
  34. Astra 1E in SES fleet information Accessed 29 November 2013^
  35. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions - Astra 1E Accessed 27 February 2014^
  36. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 March 2015^
  37. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 1 January 2021^
  38. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 30 November 2016^
  39. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 29 August 2017^
  40. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 20 August 2018^
  41. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 30 September 2019^
  42. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 20 March 2021^
  43. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 29 26 June 2023^
  44. Astra 1H in SES website Accessed 30 September 2013^
  45. SES AND SSI-MONACO SIGN MONACOSAT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT SES, retrieved 30 September 2013^
  46. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions - Astra 1H Accessed 27 February 2014^
  47. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 August 2014^
  48. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 17 July 2014^
  49. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 31 October 2016^
  50. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 30 January 2017^
  51. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 14 October 2018^
  52. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 28 February 2019^
  53. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 October 2019^
  54. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 30 October 2016^
  55. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 21 August 2018^
  56. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 30 May 2020^
  57. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 31 December 2020^
  58. REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 23 August 2022^
  59. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 29 May 2025^
  60. Astra 2B in lyngsat.com SatTracker Accessed 15 February 2013^
  61. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 29 December 2016^
  62. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 28 August 2017^
  63. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 July 2018^
  64. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 26 June 2021^
  65. Astra 2C at 60.5°E Lyngsat Accessed 27 September 2015^
  66. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 27 May 2018^
  67. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 21 August 2021^
  68. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 25 June 2024^
  69. Astra 2D in SES fleet information Accessed 26 July 2013^
  70. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 22 July 2015^
  71. Geostationary Satellites Accessed 27 December 2015^
  72. Geostationary Satellites Accessed 31 December 2017^
  73. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 29 July 2018^
  74. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 31 March 2020^
  75. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 25 November 2021^
  76. The end of an era: Commercial spinning spacecraft retires Boeing. 26 January 2023. Accessed 26 February 2023^
  77. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 26 February 2023^
  78. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions - Astra 3A Accessed 27 February 2014^
  79. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 4 July 2016^
  80. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 1 November 2016^
  81. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 28 February 2017^
  82. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 31 December 2019^
  83. Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 25 February 2023^
  84. SES ASTRA TAKES FULL OWNERSHIP OF SES SIRIUS SES Astra, 5 March 2010, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  85. SES SIRIUS BECOMES SES ASTRA SES Astra, 22 June 2010, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  86. SES Global Africa completes first successful year in African business SES ASTRA, 17 February 2006, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  87. ASTRA 1K Safely De-orbited Space News, December 10, 2002, retrieved March 14, 2026^
  88. SES ASTRA Announces End Of ASTRA 5A Spacecraft Mission SES ASTRA, 16 January 2009, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  89. SES To Move ASTRA 2C Satellite To 31.5° East To Support Development Of New Orbital Position SES Astra, 10 March 2009, retrieved 26 January 2012^
  90. Astra 2C arrived at 31.5 East LyngSat. Retrieved 1 June 2009^
  91. Satellite Monitor Annual Research Shows SES Increase Reach to 366 Million TV Homes Worldwide SES, 5 April 2022, retrieved 29 April 2022^
  92. ASTRA TV monitor 2021: Satellite supplies most TV households in Germany SES. 26 April 2022. Accessed 29 April 2022^