Astra 5B 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 SES. It was launched as SES' 56th satellite in March 2014, to the newest of the Astra orbital positions for direct-to-home (DTH)

satellite television 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 com ...

, at 31.5° East for DTH, DTT and cable use in Eastern Europe,. The satellite will replace the Astra 1G satellite currently at 31.5° East, which is itself filling in at that position after the loss of the Astra 5A satellite (originally called Sirius 2) in 2009,

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 se ...

was first used at 31.5° East to replace Astra 5A, with Astra 1G positioned there in 2010. Astra 5B is the third satellite to be launched of four ordered together by SES from

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 1 ...

(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 ...

) in 2009.''SES Selects Astrium To Build Four Direct Broadcast Satellites''
SpaceNews 27 November 2009 Accessed 2 October 2019 The similar

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 a ...

and Astra 2F were launched to

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 ...

before Astra 5B in 2013 and 2012, respectively, and the fourth, Astra 2G was launched later, in 2014.

Market

The Astra 5B satellite provided two Ku-band broadcast beams, each of horizontal and vertical polarisation, across two footprints, called the High Power beam and the Wide beam. * The High Power beam provides reception on a 50 cm dish in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

, the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

to 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, Rom ...

. * The Wide beam enables reception on a 60 cm dish over the same area and in addition, 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 ...

and much of Eastern Russia. Within these reception areas, Astra 5B will provide capacity for direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, direct-to-cable (DTC), and contribution feeds to digital terrestrial television networks. The satellite will also carry a hosted

L-band The L band is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) designation for the range of frequencies in the radio spectrum from 1 to 2 gigahertz (GHz). This is at the top end of the ultra high frequency (UHF) band, at the lowe ...

payload for the

European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed by the European Space Agency and EUROCONTROL on behalf of the European Commission. Currently, it supplements the GPS by re ...

(EGNOS) as EGNOS GEO-2.

History

Astra 5B was ordered by SES in 2009 and built by

(now

) on the Eurostar-3000

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- ...

. The launch was originally scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2013, but that launch was cancelled because the other satellite ( Optus 10) which was due to accompany Astra 5B on the

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads in ...

launch was pulled from the manifest pending a possible sale of Optus. The launch was then planned for 6 December 2013 with

Hispasat Hispasat is the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa from orbital positions 30.0° West and 61.0° West. It was formed in 1989 and its activities include provision ...

's Amazonas 4A satellite as the co-passenger, but it was announced in November 2013 that the launch had been postponed until January 2014 by delays to the availability of the Amazonas craft. Finally, Ariane 5 VA216 was launched on 22 March 2014. Astra 5B began commercial operation on 2 June 2014, and by the end of June 2014 had 18 active transponders carrying channels for eastern Europe.Astra 5B at 31.5°E
www.lungsat.com Accessed June 29, 2014

References

External links

SES
- Official SES site
SES fleet information

Astra 31.5°E orbital position Website
{{Orbital launches in 2014 Astra satellites Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2014 Satellites using the Eurostar bus Satellites of Luxembourg

Market

History

See also

References

External links