Astra 1N 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

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., ...

and is positioned at 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 kn ...

orbital position. It was launched in 2011 and is the fourth satellite to be built for Astra by

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

(now

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

) and the 46th

satellite in orbit, and entered commercial service at 28.2° East on 24 October 2011.

Satellite description

The satellite was originally designed to provide

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 ...

and

radio broadcast Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

services across Europe from the

position, in particular the German, French and Spanish markets, alongside the

Astra 1KR Astra 1KR is one of the Astra geostationary satellites owned and operated by SES, was purchased in June 2003. It was launched on 20 April 2006, 20:27:00 UTC as a replacement for Astra 1K, which failed to reach orbit on launch in November 2002. ...

Astra 1L Astra 1L, is one of the Astra geostationary satellites owned and operated by SES, was purchased in June 2003. Launch It was launched on 4 May 2007, at 22:29 UTC by an Ariane 5ECA from Centre Spatial Guyanais at Kourou, French Guiana. Sa ...

, and

Astra 1M Astra 1M is a geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES. It is positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 19.2° East, from where it is used to provide direct to home (DTH) broadcasting to Europe, Africa, and the ...

satellites already operating there. However, it was originally launched to 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 ...

position as a temporary replacement for

Astra 2D Astra 2D is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), and located at 28.2° East in the geostationary orbit until June 2015. It is a Hughes Space and Communications HS-376HP ...

.to BBC satellite transponders in 2013''
Changes to BBC satellite transponders in 2013 - BBC Distribution blog. Accessed July 16, 2013 Following the launch of Astra 2E, Astra 1N was relocated to its intended position at 19.2°E.

Broadcasting footprint

The Astra 1N satellite provides three broadcast beams, each with horizontal and vertical polarisation, across three

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 ...

. The United Kingdom spot beam covers the United Kingdom and Ireland with reception on dishes of 45 cm diameter across the whole of the United Kingdom, Ireland and

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

with the exception of the extreme north east of Scotland, where a 60 cm dish is required. The Pan-European Beam 1 provides reception on a 60 cm dish across Western and Central Europe including

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

in the south but excluding

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in the North. Pan-European Beam 2 provides 60 cm dish reception over substantially the same area reaching further north into

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and east as far as the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

, Russia and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

but excluding more of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, Italy and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

References

External links

SES fleet information and mapOfficial SES siteSES page for Astra 1N
{{Orbital launches in 2011 Astra satellites Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2011 2011 in Luxembourg Satellites of Luxembourg Satellites using the Eurostar bus

Satellite description

Broadcasting footprint

See also

References

External links