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Astra 2D 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 owned and operated by
Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), and located at
28.2° East in the
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 ...
until June 2015. It is a
Hughes Space and Communications
The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other prod ...
HS-376HP satellite bus
A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held.
Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...
, and was launched from the
Centre Spatial Guyanais in December 2000 to join
Astra 2A
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, w ...
and
Astra 2B
Astra 2B is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites. Launched in September 2000 to join Astra 2A at the Astra 28.2°E orbital position providing digital television and radio broadc ...
at 28.2° East, where it remained for its active life. As of February 2013, Astra 2D has carried no regularly active transponders.
In service
While active, most of Astra 2D's
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 ...
were used to provide television channels available on the
Sky Digital satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
service to both Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as the non-subscription service,
freesat
Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...
. Provision of rights-sensitive broadcasts
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
was made possible by the satellite's beam that was tightly focused on Ireland and the United Kingdom. However, surrounding countries had the ability to pick up the signal (dependent on suitably sized satellite dishes) and so could still access Freesat from outside the United Kingdom. Some channels on Astra 2D were encrypted with
VideoGuard
VideoGuard (sometimes referred to simply as ''NDS''), produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News ...
(a proprietary encryption method by the
NDS Group
Cisco Videoscape (formerly NDS Group and currently known as Synamedia) was a majority owned subsidiary of News Corp, which develops software for the pay TV industry (including cable, satellite and others). NDS Group was established in 1988 as an I ...
) and only
Sky Digiboxes with valid cards, or standard hardware with non-approved (with respect to the Sky/NDS end-user contract) "Dragon", or "T-Rex"
conditional-access module
A conditional access module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a smart card, which equips an integrated digital television or set-top box with the appropriate hardware facility to view conditional access content th ...
can decode these channels.
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
broadcast all of its domestic television channels (including
BBC HD
BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...
and the
regional variation
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
s) from the Astra 2D satellite, except the
BBC News Channel
BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...
and
BBC Parliament
BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliament ...
which broadcast from
Astra 2A
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, w ...
. All domestic BBC channels have been free-to-air since 29 July 2003.
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
also broadcast all its television channels (including regional variations of
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...
, and
STV and
UTV) from the Astra 2D satellite. All ITV channels have been free-to-air from 1 November 2005, although some regions reverted to
free-to-view
Free-to-view (FTV) is a term used for audiovisual transmissions that are provided free without any form of continual subscription . It differs from free-to-air (FTA) in that the program is encrypted.
Free-to-view vs. free-to-air
The free-to-view ...
encryption in 2008 when their lease on one Astra 2D transponder could not be renewed.
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
broadcast most of its channels free-to-air from this satellite, including Channel 4,
Channel 4+1,
E4,
More4
More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas.
Content
When ...
and
Film4
Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, it ...
along with their timeshift variants. All were unencrypted apart from the feeds of Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4 and E4+1 intended for viewers in Ireland, which remain encrypted. From November 2008,
Five
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
* 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
Literature
* ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram
* ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
began to transmit free-to-air for the first time on Astra 2D, using borrowed space on a BBC transponder, allowing the channel to join freesat.
End of service
With a projected lifetime of 12 years, Astra 2D was expected to leave regular operational service towards the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013 and so the
Astra 1N satellite, designed for operation at
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 ...
and launched in August 2011, was initially positioned at
28.2° East to temporarily replace Astra 2D until the start of service of its long-term replacement,
Astra 2F
Astra 2F is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES S.A., launched in September 2012 to the Astra 28.2°E orbital position. The satellite provides free-to-air and encrypted direct-to-home (DTH) digital television an ...
, which was launched in September 2012.
Astra 1N started commercial service at 28.2° East in October 2011 with transponder testing in August and September 2011. Channels on Astra 2D started to transfer to Astra 1N in December 2011 with
Channel 5 (plus
5* and
5USA
5USA is a British free-to-air television channel. It is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia and is a sister channel of Channel 5, 5Action, 5Star and 5Select. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as Five US and was the second digital terr ...
), the Channel 4 family and ITV channels all moving to the new satellite over the next two months. On 24 February 2012, the last remaining channels on Astra 2D (the BBC channels) switched off and started transmission from Astra 1N.
Until June 2015, Astra 2D remained in position at 28.2° East, with no transponder activity. It was then moved and positioned at
Astra 5°E
Astra 5°E is the name for the Astra communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving E ...
in July 2015. In October 2015, Astra 2D was moved to 57° East alongside
NSS-12. In December 2017, it was moved to 60° East. From May 2018 to July 2018, Astra 2D was moved west at 0.65°/day to
Astra 5°E
Astra 5°E is the name for the Astra communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving E ...
. From January 2020 to March 2020, Astra 2D was moved east at 0.9°/day back to 57.2° East, alongside NSS-12. In August 2021, Astra 2D started moving west to arrive at 23.5°E in November 2021.
Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions
Accessed 25 November 2021
See also
* Astra 2A
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, w ...
* Astra 2B
Astra 2B is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites. Launched in September 2000 to join Astra 2A at the Astra 28.2°E orbital position providing digital television and radio broadc ...
* Astra 2C
Astra 2C is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by Société Eurpéenne des Satellites. Designed to join Astra 2A and Astra 2B at the Astra 28.2°E orbital position providing digital television and radio broadcast ser ...
* Astra 2E
Astra 2E is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES S.A., launched to the Astra 28.2°E orbital position on 30 September 2013 after a 10-week delay caused by launcher problems. The satellite provides free-to-air ...
* Astra 2F
Astra 2F is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES S.A., launched in September 2012 to the Astra 28.2°E orbital position. The satellite provides free-to-air and encrypted direct-to-home (DTH) digital television an ...
* Astra 2G
Astra 2G is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched to the Astra 28.2°E orbital position on 27 December 2014, at 21:37:49 UTC from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Astra 2G is positioned at 28.5° East (part of the ...
* 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. It is one of the major TV satellite positions s ...
orbital position
* Astra 5°E
Astra 5°E is the name for the Astra communications satellites co-located at the 5° east position in the Clarke Belt which are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving E ...
orbital position
References
External links
SES fleet information and map
Official SES site
*
{{Orbital launches in 2000
Astra satellites
Communications satellites in geostationary orbit
2000 in Luxembourg
Satellites of Luxembourg
Spacecraft launched in 2000
Satellites using the HS-376 bus