Advanced Television

Astra 2G successfully launched

December 29, 2014

SES’s Astra 2G satellite has been successfully launched on an ILS Proton Breeze M booster at 03:37:49 Baikonur time (22:37:49 CET and 16:37:49 EST on December 27th). After a nine-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket successfully released the Astra 2G satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.

Astra 2G will be deployed at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc. The satellite was built for SES by Airbus Defence and Space. Based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, the spacecraft carries 62 Ku-band transponders, as well as four Ka-band transponders. The craft, which has a 15-year design lifetime, will enable the delivery of next generation broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer of SES congratulated Airbus Defence and Space and ILS for the successful Astra 2G mission, a launch that marked the 24th SES satellite to be launched by ILS Proton, and the ninth Eurostar satellite in the SES fleet. “The Astra 2G satellite completes our significant replacement investments at a strategic orbital neighbourhood over Europe and provides 10 incremental transponders for expansion while cementing our unique co-positioning satellite back-up-scheme,” he advised.

According to Halliwell, the spacecraft includes the capability to connect West Africa to Europe via Ka-band. “In combination with Astra 2E and Astra 2F which were launched in September 2012 and 2013 respectively, Astra 2G is the culmination of our fleet renewal programme at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc. The new state-of-the-art SES satellites provide more focused and higher power to our broadcast customers, while the Ka-band on board supports the delivery of next-generation satellite broadband services as well as intercontinental connectivity between Africa and Europe,” he explained.

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