New SES Satellite Astra 1N Operational

SES has announced that its new ASTRA 1N satellite has entered commercial service at the orbital position of 28.2 degrees East.

ASTRA 1N was built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform and is equipped with 52 transponders in the Ku frequency band.

The satellite was successfully launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on 6 August 2011.

It had a launch mass of 5,325 kg and is the fourth Eurostar satellite in the 49 satellite-strong SES fleet.

ASTRA 1N greatly enhances the flexibility of the SES satellite fleet at the orbital slot 28.2 degrees East over Europe. ASTRA 1N is notably being used by Channel 4 and ITV.

The new satellite will also allow SES to offer its satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect via 28.2 degrees East and thus complement its service offer from the 23.5 degrees East position.

ASTRA2Connect is Europe's largest satellite broadband network with more than 80,000 end users.

Arianespace’s Ariane 5 mission: ASTRA 3B and COMSATBw-2 satellite payloads

Arianespace’s Ariane 5 mission with the ASTRA 3B and COMSATBw-2 satellite payloads is on track for a liftoff tomorrow evening, following the heavy-lift vehicle’s rollout to the launch zone at the Spaceport in French Guiana this morning.

Riding atop its mobile launch table, Ariane 5 emerged from the Final Assembly Building under a sunny French Guiana sky and was transferred to the launch pad to be secured in place.

This flight will mark another of Arianespace’s missions with a mixed civilian/military payload, as ASTRA 3B is to provide direct-to-home (DTH) services, plus public and private satellite communications for SES ASTRA; while COMSATBw-2 will serve as a secure relay spacecraft for the delivery of key telecommunications capacity to Germany’s armed forces.

Lift performance for the Ariane 5 ECA will be more than 9,110 kg., including approximately 7,970 kg. for the two spacecraft passengers, plus the mass of the vehicle’s dual-passenger dispenser system and satellite integration hardware.

ASTRA 3B is riding in the upper position of the launcher’s payload “stack” and will be deployed at just under 28 minutes into the flight, with COMSATBw-2 located below it in the SYLDA 5 dispenser for a separation at 33 minutes after liftoff.

ESA ArianeSpace: Astra 3B Payload Integration into Ariane 5 ECA

Arianespace has initiated the payload “stack” build-up for its year-opening heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA mission, which will orbit a dual payload of commercial and military telecommunications satellites from the Spaceport in French Guiana.

The integration activity moved into full swing this week with ASTRA 3B’s installation atop the Ariane 5 SYLDA dual-payload dispenser system, which occurred in the Spaceport’s launch vehicle Final Assembly Building.

Riding as the flight’s upper passenger, ASTRA 3B will be deployed first in the launch sequence – to ultimately be positioned at SES ASTRA’s important 23.5 deg. East orbital location, where it will provide direct-to-home broadcast services and two-way broadband relay across Europe and the Middle East.

This EADS Astrium-produced spacecraft is based on the Eurostar E3000 satellite bus, and will have a liftoff mass of 5,470 kg. ASTRA 3B is designed for a nominal lifetime of 15 years.

Integration of ASTRA 3B was performed in the Ariane 5 Final Assembly Building at Europe’s Spaceport.

ASTRA 3B and its SYLDA dispenser will be positioned over the Ariane 5 ECA’s lower passenger for the upcoming mission, COMSATBw-2, which is continuing its pre-launch processing at the Spaceport.

As a secure relay platform, it will deliver key services for the German Bundeswehr (German armed forces), and is a follow-on spacecraft to COMSATBw-1 – which was orbited by an Ariane 5 ECA version in October 2009.

Liftoff for this upcoming Ariane 5 mission is set for March 24 – initiating Arianespace’s busy launch schedule in 2010, which has seven missions planned with the workhorse vehicle.

The Ariane 5’s second launch of this year is targeted for late April, and will loft another pair of spacecraft: Arabsat 5A for satellite services provider Arabsat, and COMS for the Korean Aerospace and Research Institute of South Korea.

Arianespace Takes Delivery Of Two More EADS Birds For Orbital Delivery

SES ASTRA's ASTRA 3B spacecraft was delivered by an Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner, which landed yesterday at Rochambeau International Airport near the capital city of Cayenne.

Built by EADS Astrium, ASTRA 3B is a state-of-the-art Ku- and Ka-band spacecraft designed for the distribution of both direct-to-home broadcast services and two-way broadband services across Europe and the Middle East.

It will be positioned at the increasingly important 23.5 deg. East orbital position for SES ASTRA.

ASTRA 3B has a payload power of 10 kW, and can operate at a relay capacity of up to 60 transponders in Ku-band and 4 in Ka-band.

It is based on the Eurostar E3000 satellite bus, and is equipped with six mission antennas - four of which are side-mounted and will be deployed in orbit. With a launch mass of 5,470 kilograms, ASTRA 3B has been designed for a nominal lifetime of 15 years.

Liftoff of the upcoming dual-payload Ariane 5 mission is set for March 24, initiating another busy schedule in which Arianespace has planned a total of seven flights for its heavy-lift workhorse during 2010.

In addition, three missions are targeted with the medium-lift Soyuz from its new Spaceport launch facility, and the lightweight Vega vehicle's maiden flight also could occur before year-end from the Spaceport.