Astra 2B 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 ...

s owned and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites. Launched in September 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 ...

at the Astra 28.2°E orbital position providing digital television and radio broadcast services to the United Kingdom and Ireland, the satellite has also served at the Astra 19.2°E and the Astra 31.5°E positions.

History

The satellite provides two broadcast beams, each with horizontal and vertical polarisation, across two

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

- 2B North (covering

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

and

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

) and 2B South (covering Central Europe and 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, def ...

and Canary Islands). While at 28.2° East, television signals could be received with a 43 cm dish across the majority of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

with a 60 cm dish required in the extreme north and west, although the official footprint maps now show a 60 cm dish as required across all of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. At 28.2° East, 17

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 tran ...

on Astra 2B were used by BSkyB to provide the Sky Digital television services of standard and

high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

(HDTV) and digital radio. Astra 2B could also provide backup capacity, substituting for one or more transponders across the whole 10.70-12.75

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 ...

range used by Astra satellites in the Astra 19.2°E and Astra 28.2°E orbital positions. A third, steerable beam provides 8 transponders in the 12.50-12.75 GHz range for

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 ...

and telecommunications services in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

. This aspect of the satellite was originally the commercial responsibility of

SES New Skies SES World Skies was a short lived company formed as a result of the merger between the two SES subsidiaries, ''SES Americom'' and ''SES New Skies''. The company was merged into its parent company, SES S.A. in 2011. History SES Americom ...

(now incorporated into

SES S.A. SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish-French satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and insti ...

). Following the launch of

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 ...

to 28.2° East, in February 2013, Astra 2B started its planned move from that position to Astra 19.2°E, to serve alongside

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 20 ...

, Astra 1L,

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 ...

, and

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 s ...

, arriving in position by 27 February 2013. In January 2014, Astra 2B moved to the Astra 31.5°E orbital position, pending the delayed launch of Astra 5B to that position and stayed there as back-up until it was moved back to 19.2° East in December 2016. In June 2017, it was moved west at approximately 0.6°/day to arrive alongside

NSS-7 NSS-7 is a communications satellite owned by SES World Skies. It launched on 16 April 2002 on an AR-44L model of the Ariane 4 launch vehicle. It is a hybrid Ku- and C-band telecommunications satellite providing fixed satellite services, includin ...

at 20° West in August 2017. From April 2018 to July 2018, Astra 2B was moved east at 0.6°/day to Astra 19.2°E. Since June 2021, Astra 2B has been non-operational and moving west at approximately 4.9°/day.Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions
Accessed June 26, 2021

References

External links

SES fleet information and map

Official SES site
{{Orbital launches in 2000 Astra satellites Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2000 2000 in Luxembourg Satellites of Luxembourg Satellites using the Eurostar bus

History

See also

References

External links