Astra 1E is one of the Astra

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

s in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

owned and operated by

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...

. It was launched in October 1995 to the

Astra 19.2°E Astra 19.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. Astra 19.2°E used to be commonly k ...

orbital slot initially to provide digital television and radio for

direct-to-home Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

(DTH) across Europe. Astra 1E was the first Astra satellite to be dedicated to

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

broadcasting and it carried many of the first digital television channels from networks broadcasting to France, Germany, and other European countries in the 1990s. The satellite originally provided two broadcast beams, of horizontal and vertical polarisation, for

Fixed Service Satellite Fixed-satellite service (short: FSS | also: fixed-satellite radiocommunication service) is – according to ''article 1.21'' of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as ''A radiocommunication se ...

(FSS) (10.70-10.95

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) and for Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) (11.70-12.10 GHz) frequency bands. The FSS beams provide

footprints Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hoof, hooves or paws rather than foot, feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by ...

that cover essentially the same area of Europe – northern, central and eastern Europe, including Spain and northern Italy – while the BSS horizontal beam excludes Spain and extends further east, and the BSS vertical beam includes Spain and more of southern Italy but does not extend so far east. Within the footprints, television signals are usually received with a 60–80 cm dish.

History

In October 2007, following the successful deployment of Astra 1L at 19.2° East, Astra 1E was moved to Astra's new DTH orbital position, 23.5° East where it provided capacity for the transmission of new services including the

ASTRA2Connect SES Broadband (previously ASTRA2Connect) is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the Astra series of geostationary satellites. SES Broadband is owned and operated by SES ...

two-way satellite broadband

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

service which provides high speed internet access and

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of speech, voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms In ...

(VoIP) without landline connection at up to 2

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...

download speeds and 128 kbit/s upload using four

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally german: Kurz-unten), because it is the lower part of the ori ...

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

for both forward and return paths from the user's remote terminal. In May 2010,

Astra 3B Astra 3B is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched in 2010 to the Astra 23.5°E orbital position providing digital television and radio for direct-to-home (DTH), and the AstraConnect two-way satellite ...

was launched to the 23.5° East position, coming into service in June 2010, at which time the services using Astra 1E were transferred to the new craft. In August 2010, Astra 1E left the 23.5° East position moving westwards, to the Astra 5°E position to provide backup for

Astra 4A Astra 4A is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 5°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio broadcasts, data, and interactive services to Nordic countries, eastern Europe and sub-Saharan ...

pending the launch of Astra 4B to that position in 2011. At 5° East, Astra 1E carried very little television traffic. Following the launch of Astra 4B (renamed to

SES-5 SES-5 (also known as Astra 4B and Sirius 5) is a commercial geostationary communication satellite operated by SES S.A. It was launched on 9 July 2012. The launch was arranged by International Launch Services (ILS). History In October 2008, S ...

) in February 2012, Astra 1E was moved to 108.2° East, in inclined orbit and with no traffic, and then to 31.5° East in Summer 2013. It returned to 23° East in February 2015. in June 2015, the satellite was retired and was moved into a

graveyard orbit A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellites are moved int ...

above the geostationary belt, moving 5.4° West per day.Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions
Accessed June 29, 2015

References

External links

SES guide to receiving Astra satellites

SES guide to channels broadcasting on Astra satellites

OnAstra
- Official consumers/viewers' site
SES
- Official trade/industry site
Astra 1E FSS Horizontal beam footprint on SatBeams

Astra 1E FSS Vertical beam footprint on SatBeams

Astra 1E BSS Horizontal beam footprint on SatBeams

Astra 1E BSS Vertical beam footprint on SatBeams

SES Broadband (was ASTRA2Connect) website
{{Orbital launches in 1995 Astra satellites Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Satellites using the BSS-601 bus Satellite Internet access Spacecraft launched in 1995 1995 in Luxembourg Satellites of Luxembourg

History

See also

References

External links