Astra 31.5°E
Encyclopedia
Astra 31.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellite
s co-located at the 31.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra
, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg
. 31.5° east is SES Astra’s newest orbital location serving Europe (the others being at 19.2° east, 28.2° east, 23.5° east, and 5° east).
The first satellites to commercially exploit this position were the Astra 5A
and Astra 1D
craft, which provided for services downlinking in the 10.70 GHz-12.50 GHz range of the Ku band
across Europe, Western Russia and the Middle East.
(DTH) standard definition and high definition
TV and radio broadcasting, interactive TV, cable contribution, and DTT and other terrestrial feeds in Eastern Europe and the Middle East – the latter not served by SES Astra before.
Countries included within the intended market for this position, include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The pan-European beam of Astra 5A provided capacity for cable distribution, DTT and other terrestrial feeds, while 5A’s CEE beam provided a high-power footprint for the DTH market.
Following the failure of Astra 5A, its replacement first by Astra 2C
and then by Astra 1G has provided similar coverage and, as of July 2010, there are eight transponders leased on this satellite, including one to provide IP backbone
services to small and medium sized ISPs in the Middle East and Caucasus
region where terrestrial telecommunications infrastructures are underdeveloped.
In December 2010, SES Astra announced two agreements for the lease of capacity on Astra 1G. The first was with the Ukrainian state-owned company, Ukrkosmos, to provide capacity at 31.5°E for broadcasting direct to Ukrainian homes and to cable head ends and terrestrial networks. The Ukrkosmos platform includes the channels UTR
, Kultura
, KDRTRK, Sport 1, Sport 2, Malyatko TV and Menu TV. The second agreement was with Central European Media Enterprises
(CME) which contracted a transponder on Astra 1G for distribution of services to cable head ends in Romania and Bulgaria, starting in January 2011. CME provides TV channels including Pro TV
, Pro TV International
, Acasa
, Pro Cinema
, Sport.ro
and MTV Romania to Romania and bTV, bTV Cinema, bTV Comedy, PRO.BG and RING.BG
in Bulgaria, and is the "anchor customer" for Astra's 31.5°E slot.
), carrying SES test transmissions in July 2006, to occupy the slot until Astra craft could be moved there.
In November 2007, Astra 1D (originally launched to the Astra 19.2°E position but in July 2007 moved to help establish the Astra 23.5°E
position) was approaching the end of its design life and was replaced at 23.5° east by Astra 1E
. Astra 1D was moved to 31.5° east, where it operated in inclined orbit, to replace Optus A3.
In April 2008, Optus A3 was moved from the 31.5° east position and operation of the Sirius 2
satellite (owned by NSAB - later, SES Sirius
- and launched in 1997 to the 5°E
position) was transferred to SES Astra and the craft was renamed Astra 5A and moved to 31.5° east to officially open up the new Astra 31.5°E position, although control of the craft in orbit was kept with the Swedish Space Corporation
.
On January 16, 2009 Astra 5A "experienced a technical anomaly leading to the end of the spacecraft’s mission". All traffic ceased, with much of it (especially channels for German cable service, Kabel Deutschland
) transferred to Astra 23.5°E
. Astra 1D is not suitable for the transmission of these services because it is in an inclined orbit
. In March 2009, SES Astra announced that in April, the Astra 2C
satellite was to be moved from the 28.2° east
position to Astra 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 Astra 31.5°E.. The satellite move was started in May and completed on May 11 with the first transponders coming into use at the new position in the subsequent two weeks.
In June 2010, Astra 3B
(launched May 2010) came into operation at Astra 23.5°E
and Astra 1G was moved from that position to Astra 31.5°E, where it could release Astra 1D for use elsewhere and take over all broadcasting activity from Astra 2C. As of July 2010, Astra 2C remains at the Astra 31.5°E position but does not carry any traffic.
Late in 2009 SES Astra announced that a new satellite has been ordered for this position. Astra 5B is being built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform for DTH and cable use in Eastern Europe, and will be launched between at the end of 2014.
Communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...
s co-located at the 31.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra
SES Astra
Astra is the name for the geostationary communication satellites, both individually and as a group, which are owned and operated by SES S.A., a global satellite operator based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg. The name is sometimes also used to describe the channels broadcasting from these...
, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg
Betzdorf, Luxembourg
Betzdorf is a commune and village in eastern Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Grevenmacher, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher. The commune's administrative centre is Berg....
. 31.5° east is SES Astra’s newest orbital location serving Europe (the others being at 19.2° east, 28.2° east, 23.5° east, and 5° east).
The first satellites to commercially exploit this position were the Astra 5A
Astra 5A
Astra 5A is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra at the Astra 31.5°E orbital slot. Launched in 1997 to the 5°E position by NSAB as Sirius 2, operation of the satellite was transferred to SES Astra in April 2008 and the craft renamed and moved to 31.5°E to open up a new...
and Astra 1D
Astra 1D
Astra 1D was the fourth, and under original plans, last communications satellite from Société Européenne des Satellites , now SES Astra. It was launched to Astra's original solitary operational position at 19.2° east, and was intended as an in-orbit spare for Astra's 1A, 1B and 1C...
craft, which provided for services downlinking in the 10.70 GHz-12.50 GHz range of the Ku band
Ku band
The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
across Europe, Western Russia and the Middle East.
Market
Astra 31.5°E is SES Astra’s newest satellite position, intended to develop the markets for direct-to-homeDirect broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception.A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television...
(DTH) standard definition and high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
TV and radio broadcasting, interactive TV, cable contribution, and DTT and other terrestrial feeds in Eastern Europe and the Middle East – the latter not served by SES Astra before.
Countries included within the intended market for this position, include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The pan-European beam of Astra 5A provided capacity for cable distribution, DTT and other terrestrial feeds, while 5A’s CEE beam provided a high-power footprint for the DTH market.
Following the failure of Astra 5A, its replacement first by Astra 2C
Astra 2C
Astra 2C is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra. Designed to join Astra 2A and Astra 2B at the Astra 28.2°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio broadcast services to the UK and Republic of Ireland, the satellite was first used at 19.2°E for pan-European...
and then by Astra 1G has provided similar coverage and, as of July 2010, there are eight transponders leased on this satellite, including one to provide IP backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
services to small and medium sized ISPs in the Middle East and Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
region where terrestrial telecommunications infrastructures are underdeveloped.
In December 2010, SES Astra announced two agreements for the lease of capacity on Astra 1G. The first was with the Ukrainian state-owned company, Ukrkosmos, to provide capacity at 31.5°E for broadcasting direct to Ukrainian homes and to cable head ends and terrestrial networks. The Ukrkosmos platform includes the channels UTR
Ukrainian Television and Radio
UTR is the Ukrainian state owned TV channel targeting a foreign Ukrainian-speaking audience. Programming is provided with English subtitles. The channel is broadcast via satellite in Eurasia, North and South Americas, with a high quality signal available in 82 countries. UTR can also be found on...
, Kultura
Kultura (Ukrainian television channel)
Kultura is state owned TV channel showcasing culture in Ukraine.- History :State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company “Culture” emerged in Ukraine in 2003 as part of the State Committee of Television and Radio of Ukraine. It was first broadcasted at First National and Second National channels...
, KDRTRK, Sport 1, Sport 2, Malyatko TV and Menu TV. The second agreement was with Central European Media Enterprises
Central European Media Enterprises
Central European Media Enterprises is a Bermuda-based vertically integrated company. Founded by Ronald Lauder, it owns broadcast, content and new media operations in Central and Eastern Europe...
(CME) which contracted a transponder on Astra 1G for distribution of services to cable head ends in Romania and Bulgaria, starting in January 2011. CME provides TV channels including Pro TV
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
, Pro TV International
Pro TV International
PRO TV Internaţional is a Romanian TV network owned by PRO TV Group. It is the international service of PRO TV and broadcasts programmes of PRO TV, Acasă TV and PRO Cinema to Romanian audiences abroad in Europe, North America, and Israel.-Coverage:...
, Acasa
Acasa
Acasă is a television channel operated by the Central European Media Enterprises that broadcasts in Romania. It is mostly dedicated to daytime telenovelas, family movies, news, talk shows, soap operas and entertainment.-Telenovelas:-External links:*...
, Pro Cinema
PRO Cinema
PRO Cinema is a Romanian movie channel that is owned by Central European Media Enterprises and launched on April 19, 2004. It was the first Romanian TV channel dedicated exclusively to movies, and as such it attracted a significant audience from its very inception, mainly in the 18-49 urban...
, Sport.ro
Sport.ro
Sport.ro is a private channel in Romania, launched on July 27, 2003 and dedicated entirely to sports. Sport.ro reaches nearly 64% of the population of 21.5 million inhabitants of Romania and its broadcast schedule contains domestic and international sporting events...
and MTV Romania to Romania and bTV, bTV Cinema, bTV Comedy, PRO.BG and RING.BG
RING.BG
RING.BG is a Bulgarian sports TV channel . It was founded in 1998 by a group of professionals and sports enthusiasts. It is distributed via cable path throughout the country...
in Bulgaria, and is the "anchor customer" for Astra's 31.5°E slot.
History
The first hint of SES Astra's plan to develop the 31.5° east position as a new 'hot spot' for satellite TV came with the positioning of the ancient Australian satellite, Optus A3 (launched 1987) at 31.5° East (albeit in a 9° inclined orbitInclined orbit
A satellite is said to occupy an inclined orbit around the Earth if the orbit exhibits an angle other than zero degrees with the equatorial plane. This angle is called the orbit's inclination...
), carrying SES test transmissions in July 2006, to occupy the slot until Astra craft could be moved there.
In November 2007, Astra 1D (originally launched to the Astra 19.2°E position but in July 2007 moved to help establish the Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
position) was approaching the end of its design life and was replaced at 23.5° east by Astra 1E
Astra 1E
Astra 1E is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra, and launched in 1995 to the Astra 19.2°E orbital slot to provide digital television and radio for DTH across Europe....
. Astra 1D was moved to 31.5° east, where it operated in inclined orbit, to replace Optus A3.
In April 2008, Optus A3 was moved from the 31.5° east position and operation of the Sirius 2
SIRIUS (satellite)
Sirius was a constellation of communications satellites operated at 5°E in geostationary orbit by SES Sirius . They carried digital satellite television to the countries of Scandinavia, Baltic states, eastern Europe and Africa, including the Viasat pay TV system, along with several pay TV...
satellite (owned by NSAB - later, SES Sirius
SES SIRIUS
SES Sirius, formerly called Nordic Satellite AB is the owner and operator of the two Sirius satellites, which provide the Nordic countries and the Baltic states, with TV, radio, data and communications solutions...
- and launched in 1997 to the 5°E
Astra 5°E
Astra 5°E is the name for the communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
position) was transferred to SES Astra and the craft was renamed Astra 5A and moved to 31.5° east to officially open up the new Astra 31.5°E position, although control of the craft in orbit was kept with the Swedish Space Corporation
Swedish Space Corporation
The Swedish Space Corporation is a comprehensive space company covering the entire field, from the definition of innovative business concepts and space projects to the development, tests and operation of the systems....
.
On January 16, 2009 Astra 5A "experienced a technical anomaly leading to the end of the spacecraft’s mission". All traffic ceased, with much of it (especially channels for German cable service, Kabel Deutschland
Kabel Deutschland
-Company:Kabel Deutschland operates in 13 of the 16 states . In 2006, of the 15.4 million households passed by their cable the company served 9.6 million, however only one third of these are direct customers of Kabel Deutschland, since especially in large apartment complexes the in-house cable...
) transferred to Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
. Astra 1D is not suitable for the transmission of these services because it is in an inclined orbit
Inclined orbit
A satellite is said to occupy an inclined orbit around the Earth if the orbit exhibits an angle other than zero degrees with the equatorial plane. This angle is called the orbit's inclination...
. In March 2009, SES Astra announced that in April, the Astra 2C
Astra 2C
Astra 2C is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra. Designed to join Astra 2A and Astra 2B at the Astra 28.2°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio broadcast services to the UK and Republic of Ireland, the satellite was first used at 19.2°E for pan-European...
satellite was to be moved from the 28.2° east
Astra 28.2°E
Astra 28.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
position to Astra 31.5°E to temporarily take over Astra 5A's mission until Astra 3B is launched to Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
, when another craft currently there can be released to Astra 31.5°E.. The satellite move was started in May and completed on May 11 with the first transponders coming into use at the new position in the subsequent two weeks.
In June 2010, Astra 3B
Astra 3B
Astra 3B is a communications satellite owned and operated by SES Astra, launched in 2010 to the Astra 23.5°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio for direct-to-home , and two-way satellite broadband services across Europe and the Middle East....
(launched May 2010) came into operation at Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E
Astra 23.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
and Astra 1G was moved from that position to Astra 31.5°E, where it could release Astra 1D for use elsewhere and take over all broadcasting activity from Astra 2C. As of July 2010, Astra 2C remains at the Astra 31.5°E position but does not carry any traffic.
Late in 2009 SES Astra announced that a new satellite has been ordered for this position. Astra 5B is being built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform for DTH and cable use in Eastern Europe, and will be launched between at the end of 2014.
See also
- Astra 5°EAstra 5°EAstra 5°E is the name for the communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
- Astra 19.2°EAstra 19.2°EAstra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
- Astra 23.5°EAstra 23.5°EAstra 23.5°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
- Astra 28.2°EAstra 28.2°EAstra 28.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
- SES AstraSES AstraAstra is the name for the geostationary communication satellites, both individually and as a group, which are owned and operated by SES S.A., a global satellite operator based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg. The name is sometimes also used to describe the channels broadcasting from these...
satellite owner - SES SiriusSES SIRIUSSES Sirius, formerly called Nordic Satellite AB is the owner and operator of the two Sirius satellites, which provide the Nordic countries and the Baltic states, with TV, radio, data and communications solutions...
satellite’s previous owner - Optus satellitesOptus fleet of satellitesThis is a list of the satellites operated by Optus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located at Belrose on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.-A-Class:*Satellite Type: Hughes HS-376...
- Central European Media EnterprisesCentral European Media EnterprisesCentral European Media Enterprises is a Bermuda-based vertically integrated company. Founded by Ronald Lauder, it owns broadcast, content and new media operations in Central and Eastern Europe...