Astra 1N

Astra 1N

COSPAR ID	2011-041A
SATCAT no.	37775
Mission duration	15 years
Spacecraft properties
Bus	Eurostar E3000
Manufacturer	Astrium
Launch mass	5,300 kilograms (11,700 lb)
Power	13,074 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	August 6, 2011 (2011-08-06)
Rocket	Ariane 5 ECA VA203
Launch site	Kourou ELA-3
Contractor	Arianespace
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Geostationary
Longitude	28.2° East
Slot	Astra 28.2°E
Perigee altitude	35,780 kilometres (22,230 mi)
Apogee altitude	35,805 kilometres (22,248 mi)
Inclination	0.05 degrees
Period	1436.010 minutes
Epoch	8 February 2014, 03:43:10 UTC
Transponders
Band	104 Ku band
Bandwidth	26/33 megahertz
EIRP	54 decibel-watts

Astra 1N is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched in 2011 to join Astra 2A, Astra 2B Astra 2D at the Astra 28.2°E orbital slot. Astra 1N is the fourth satellite to be built for Astra by Astrium and the 46th SES satellite in orbit, and entered commercial service at 28.2°E on 24 October 2011.

The satellite was originally designed to provide digital television and radio broadcast services across Europe from the Astra 19.2°E position, in particular the German, French and Spanish markets, alongside the Astra 1KR, Astra 1L, and Astra 1M satellites already operating there.

Astra 1N was instead temporarily positioned at 28.2°E to provide capacity for the UK and Ireland, including the Sky and Freesat DTH platforms, prior to the launch of Astra 2E and Astra 2F to this position in 2013 and 2012, respectively. All traffic on Astra 2D was transferred to Astra 1N in early 2012 (as of July 2012, Astra 2D remains co-located with Astra 1N at 28.2°E but is inactive).

On September 28, 2012 Astra 2F was successfully launched from Kourou in French Guiana. After in-orbit testing at 43.5°E, the satellite began commercial operations at 28.2°E on November 21, 2012. and some services were transferred from Astra 1N to Astra 2F. Astra 2E was launched to the Astra 28.2°E position from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on September 30, 2013 following a 10-week delay caused by the catastrophic failure of a previous launch. When Astra 2E becomes operational, Astra 1N is expected to be moved to its design location of 19.2°E and all remaining channels currently broadcasting from Astra 1N moved to Astra 2E.

Broadcasting footprint

The Astra 1N satellite provides three broadcast beams, each with horizontal and vertical polarisation, across three footprints. The UK spot beam covers the UK and Ireland with reception on dishes of 45 cm diameter across the whole of the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands 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 in the south but excluding Finland in the North. Pan-European Beam 2 provides 60 cm dish reception over substantially the same area reaching further north into Scandinavia and east as far as the Baltic States, Russia and the Black Sea but excluding more of the Iberian peninsula, Italy and the Mediterranean.

TV and Radio Channels on Astra 1N

Below is a list of the TV and radio channels broadcast from Astra 1N as of January 2014:

In the list, TV channels broadcast with a one-hour delay are shown Channel +1hr. Where both the original and the delayed channel are broadcast from the same transponder, this is shown in one entry as Channel [also +1hr].

4

See also

• Astra 2A co-located satellite
• Astra 2E co-located satellite
• Astra 2F co-located satellite
• Astra 2D co-located satellite (not active)
• Astra 28.2°E orbital position
• SES satellite operator
• Astra satellite family

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
• SES page for Astra 1N
• IMS Official provider's site