Astra 2F

Astra 2F
Spacecraft properties

Mission type	Communications
Operator	SES
COSPAR ID	2012-051A
SATCAT №	38778
Mission duration	15 years

Bus	Eurostar E3000
Manufacturer	Astrium

Start of mission
Launch date	September 28, 2012, 21:18:07 (2012-09-28UTC21:18:07Z) UTC
Rocket	Ariane 5 ECA V209
Launch site	Kourou ELA-3
Contractor	Arianespace

Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Geostationary
Longitude	43.5°E (2012, testing) 28.2° East (2012-)
Slot	Astra 28.2°E
Perigee	35,778 kilometres (22,231 mi)^[1]
Apogee	35,805 kilometres (22,248 mi)^[1]
Inclination	0.02 degrees^[1]
Period	1436.05 minutes^[1]
Epoch	22 January 2015, 22:20:58 UTC^[1]

Astra 2F is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched in September 2012 to the Astra 28.2°E orbital slot.^[2] The satellite provides free-to-air and encrypted direct-to-home (DTH) digital TV and satellite broadband services for Europe and Africa.

Astra 2F is the first of three ‘second generation’ satellites for the 28.2°E position which replace the first generation Astra 2A, Astra 2B and Astra 2D craft previously there.^[3] The second, Astra 2E, was launched in 2013^[4] and the third, Astra 2G, was launched in 2014^[5] (launched on December 27, 2014^[6]). Some parts of the construction of Astra 2F by Astrium in Stevenage, UK could be seen in the BBC2 documentary programme, How To Build… A Satellite broadcast on November 27, 2011.

Astra 2F was successfully launched from Kourou in French Guiana on September 28, 2012.^[7] and underwent in-orbit testing at 43.5°E.^[8] Commercial operations at 28.2°E began on November 21, 2012.^[9]

Market

The Astra 28.2°E position was established in 1998 to provide digital TV, digital radio and multimedia services to the UK and Republic of Ireland, and Astra 2F’s primary mission is to continue this provision as replacement and follow-on capacity to the Astra 2A, Astra 2B, Astra 2D and Astra 1N satellites, delivering programming to almost 13 million satellite homes, over 3 million cable homes, and 700,000 IPTV homes in the UK and Ireland, in particular for channels from the major UK digital satellite TV platforms, BSkyB and Freesat.^[10]

In addition, Astra 2F serves the growing DTH platforms in West Africa such as Ghana’s MultiTV.

Astra 2F is also designed to provide SES Broadband’s first commercial Ka-band satellite broadband service in Europe, with a Ka-band payload delivering high-speed Internet access (at download speeds up to 20Mbit/s) along with VoIP, and IPTV from November 2012.

Broadcasting footprint

Astra 2F has three Ku-band downlink beams covering Europe and Africa. The Europe beam is centred on the English Channel with maximum signal (for reception on a 40 cm dish) over the UK, Ireland, France, Benelux, and parts of Germany, Austria, and Spain (including a "lobe" specifically designed to serve the Canary Islands which officially requires a 120 cm dish but in practise is easily receivable using a 90 cm dish as with Astra 2E), and reception on a 1m dish extending to North Africa, Poland and the Balkans.

The UK Spot beam provides maximum signal (40 cm dishes) over the UK, Ireland, Benelux and Northern France in close approximation of the UK Beam of Astra 2D, which it replaces.^[11] Due to the tight footprint, some reception issues for UK channels are being reported in Spain as of December 2012. Early reports of test transmissions on 11.023 GHz H 23000 DVB-S2 suggest the beam is very tight with a very sharp fall off to the west and east of the footprint, but eastern Spain seems to be getting a higher signal strength possibly due to the off-axis beam as 28.2°E on the geostationary arc is not directly in line with the UK but offset to the east.

The West Africa beam provides for reception with 60 cm dishes across southern West Africa from Senegal to Nigeria, with a lower signal level (80 cm dishes) extending across the Democratic Republic of Congo.^[12]

The Ka-band footprint for satellite broadband provides full service coverage across western Europe from the UK and France in the west to Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia and Boznia Herzegovina in the east.^[13]

Active Transponders

Below is a list of the TV channels broadcast from active transponders on Astra 2F as of July 2015:^[14]

In the list, 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].

UK Beam

Tp109 11.306 GHz H 27500 2/3:

Bike Channel
Create & Craft
Craft Extra
GEO Tez
Ideal Extra
Ideal World
Inspiration TV
LFC TV (encrypted in Videoguard)
Movies 24 [also +1hr] (encrypted in Videoguard)
Syfy [also +1hr] (encrypted in Videoguard)
Universal Channel [also +1hr] (encrypted in Videoguard)
Universal Channel Ireland (encrypted in Videoguard)

Tp110 11.306 GHz V 27500 2/3:

Bliss
Chart Show Dance
Chart Show TV
Flava
Kix!
Pop [also +1hr]
PopGirl
Scuzz
Starz
The Vault
Tiny Pop [also +1hr]
True Drama
True ENtertainment [also +1hr]
True Moview 1
True Movies 2

Tp111 11.344 GHz H 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

?TV (unencrypted)
BT Sport 1, 2, Extra
BT Sport Europe Promo
BT Sport ESPN
BT Sport Mosaic
E! +1hr
E! Ireland
SET +1hr
Super Casino (unencrypted)

Tp112 11.344 GHz V 27500 2/3:

Aaj Tak
Aastha Intn'l
At The Races Ireland (encrypted in Videoguard)
CBS Drama
Channels 24
Equal World
Life OK (encrypted in Videoguard)
My Channel
News 18
Propeller
Psychic Today
Rishtey
S4C

European Beam

Tp1 11.720 GHz H 29500 3/4 DVB-S2 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Lifetime HD
MTV Live HD
Sky Sports In Pubs 1-4
Sky Sports News HQ in Pubs

Tp21 12.110 GHz H 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Comedy Central
Cartoonito
Fox
PBS America
Sky 1
Sky Living
Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports 3
Sky Sports F1

Tp23 12.148 GHz H 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

British Eurosport 2
Comedy Central Extra
Fox +1hr
Sky Arts 2
Sky Atlantic
Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 4
Sky Sports In Pubs 1-4
Sky Sports News HQ
Sky Sports News HQ Ireland

Tp24 12.168 GHz V 29500 3/4 DVB-S2 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Sky Movies Comedy HD
Sky Movies Disney HD
Sky Movies Drama & Romance HD
Sky Movies Greats HD
Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror HD

Tp25 12.188 GHz H 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

At The Races
Crime & Investigation
Fox
History [also +1hr]
National Geographic [also +1hr]
Nat Geo Wild
Sky On Demand a-B
Sky Living It
Ulster TV

Tp26 12.207 GHz V 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Community Channel
Pick [also +1hr] (unencrypted)
Sky 1
Sky 2
Sky News (unencrypted)
Sky News Ireland (unencrypted)
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports 5

Tp27 12.226 GHz H 29500 3/4 DVB-S2 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Cartoon Network HD
Disney Channel HD
Disney Junior HD
Good Food HD
TCM HD

Tp28 12.246 GHz V 29500 3/4 DVB-S2 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Crime & Investigation HD
History HD
Nat Geo Wild HD
Sky Movies Action & Adventure HD
TLC HD

Tp29 12.266 GHz H 27500 5/6 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Baby TV
Nickelodeon [also +1hr]
Nick Jr
Nick Toons
Oireachtas TV
RTÉ 2
RTÉ Jr
RTÉ News Now
RTÉ One [also +1hr]
Sky Living +1hr
Sky News Arabia (unencrypted)
Sky Sports News HQ in Pubs
TG4

Tp30 12.285 GHz V 27500 2/3 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Sky Intro (unencrypted)
Sky Movies Box Office

Tp32 12.324 GHz V 29500 3/4 DVB-S2 (encrypted in Videoguard):

Chelsea TV
Film 4 HD
More 4 HD
Sky Living HD

Tp75 12.545 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Brit Asia TV
Capital TV
Clubland TV
Gems TV
Heart TV
High Street TV
High Street TV Extra
Home Store
Information TV +1hr
NDTV
Noor TV
Planet Pop
PTC Punjabi
Record Europa
Rocks & Co
Sangat TV
ARY Digital
Geo News International
TV Shop

References

1 2 3 4 5 "ASTRA 2F Satellite details 2012-051A NORAD 38778". N2YO. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
↑ "SES SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES ASTRA 2F SATELLITE" (Press release). SES. October 1, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
↑ Bains, Geoff. "The Good Die Young" What Satellite & Digital TV Summer 2012 pp29
↑ "ASTRA 2E successfully launched" (Press release). SES. September 30, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
↑ "SES Orders Four New Satellites From ASTRIUM" (Press release). SES. 30 November 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
↑ "ASTRA 2G SATELLITE ROARS INTO ORBIT" (Press release). SES. November 28, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
↑ "SES SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES ASTRA 2F SATELLITE" (Press release). SES. October 1, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
↑ Astra 2F Testing Reception Reports, Satellites.co.uk, retrieved December 27, 2012
↑ "SES’ ASTRA 2F SATELLITE STARTS OPERATIONS" (Press release). SES. November 21, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
↑ ASTRA 2F arrives at the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou August 23, 2012 SES blog. Accessed August 26, 2012
↑ Bains, Geoff. "Flight of the Big Birds" What Satellite & Digital TV February 2012 pp29
↑ Astra 2F footprints & coverages on satelaunch.net Accesses August 29, 2012
↑ Bains, Geoff. "The Astra 2F Bonus" What Satellite & Digital TV June 2012 pp29
↑ "Astra 2F at 28.2°E". LyngSat. Retrieved December 31, 2015.

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
Astra 2F Information, Maps & Reception
IMS Official provider's site

SES Astra satellites

Astra 1	Astra 1A Astra 1B Astra 1C Astra 1D Astra 1E Astra 1F Astra 1G Astra 1H Astra 1K Astra 1KR Astra 1L Astra 1M Astra 1N

Astra 2	Astra 2A Astra 2B Astra 2C Astra 2D Astra 2E Astra 2F Astra 2G

Astra 3	Astra 3A Astra 3B

Astra 4	Astra 4A SES-5 / Astra 4B

Astra 5	Astra 5A Astra 5B

Other	AMC-12 (as Astra 4A) Sirius 3

Boxes	5.0°E 19.2°E 28.2°E 23.5°E 31.5°E

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Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( \| ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).

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