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Astra 2A is one of the Astra communications satellites owned by Société Européenne des Satellites. Launched in 1998 into the 28.2° East orbital position, half its expected end-of-life capacity of 28 transponders were pre-booked by BSkyB, who utilised it to launch their new Sky Digital service. In March 2015, the satellite has been deactivated and relocated to 113.5° East.

Astra 2A

Mission type	Communications
Operator	Société Européenne des Satellites / SES S.A.
COSPAR ID	1998-050A
SATCAT no.	25462
Website	https://www.ses.com/
Mission duration	15 years (planned) 23 years, 11 months, 24 days (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Boeing 601
Bus	HS-601HP
Manufacturer	Hughes Space and Communications
Launch mass	3,635 kg (8,014 lb)
Power	6 kW
Start of mission
Launch date	30 August 1998, 00:31:00 UTC
Rocket	Proton-K / DM-03
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 81/23
Contractor	Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Entered service	October 1998
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[1]
Regime	Geostationary orbit
Longitude	572° East
Transponders
Band	32 Ku-band
Bandwidth	33 MHz
Coverage area	Europe
Astra constellation ← Astra 1G Astra 1H →

History

The satellite suffered pre-launch technical issues with its apogee motors and was moved to a launch by the Proton-K / DM-03 rather than the Ariane 5, as the Proton can inject directly in geostationary orbit (GEO).[2]

When positioned at 28.2 East, it joined DFS Kopernikus-1, which served mainly Eastern Europe. The satellite was the first of Astra's craft to never carry analogue television services (with the exception of a solitary test card in 1999 [3]), and as of 2006, carried standard definition digital television, digital radio, and high-definition digital television, as well as Sky Interactive streams and the AVC Broadband and Silvermead satellite Internet services. Two beams "2A North" and "2A South" transmit on horizontal and vertical polarisation. The South beam covers almost all of Europe, with the North beam covering only Northern Europe at a high power.

In March 2015, two years beyond Astra 2A's projected lifespan, and following the launches of Astra 2E in 2013, Astra 2F in 2012, and Astra 2G in 2014 to 28.2° East, all remaining traffic was transferred from Astra 2A to the newer satellites.[4] From 25 March 2015, Astra 2A remained at 28.2° East, inactive, and was expected to be moved to Astra 23.5°E to operate as a backup satellite to Astra 3B[5] but in the summer of 2016 it was instead moved to 113.5°E.[6] In July 2018, Astra 2A started moving west at approximately 0.6°/day [7] to arrive at its new position of 100° East in August 2018.[8] In May 2020, Astra 2A started moving west at approx 0.8°/day.[9] and in the autumn 2020, it was back at 28.2°E.[10] The satellite was moved to 57.2°E in 2022[11]

See also

• Astra 2E
• Astra 2F
• Astra 2G
• Astra 2B
• Astra 2C
• Astra 2D
• Astra 28.2°E main lifetime orbital position

References

External links

• Astra 2A Ku-band North Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
• Astra 2A Ku-band South Beam footprint(s) at SatBeams
• SES fleet information and map
• Official SES site

На других языках

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- [en] Astra 2A

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[ru] Астра 2A

Астра 2A — европейский телекоммуникационный спутник принадлежащий компании Société Européenne des Satellites (Люксембург, Бетцдорф). Он предназначается для ретрансляции радио- и телепрограмм в аналоговом и цифровом форматах, а также обеспечения мобильной и Интернет-связью абонентов Западной Европы.

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