Astra 2G

Astra 2G
Names	Eutelsat 28G
Mission type	Communications
Operator	SES
COSPAR ID	2014-089A
SATCAT no.	40364
Website	https://www.ses.com/
Mission duration	15 years (planned); 6 years, 8 months, 5 days (elapsed)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Eurostar
Bus	Eurostar-3000
Manufacturer	Astrium; (now Airbus Defence and Space)
Launch mass	6,020 kg (13,270 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	27 December 2014, 21:37:49 UTC
Rocket	Proton-M / Briz-M
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 200/39
Contractor	Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Entered service	June 2015
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Geostationary orbit
Longitude	28.2° East
Transponders
Band	66 transponders:; 62 Ku-band; 4 Ka-band
Bandwidth	250 / 500 / 600 MHz
Coverage area	Europe
	Astra constellation ← Astra 5B

Astra 2G is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES, launched to the Astra 28.2°E orbital position on 27 December 2014, at 21:37:49 UTC from Baikonur Cosmodrome.^[2]

Astra 2G is positioned at 28.5° East (part of the Astra 28.2°E orbital position) and is the last of three "second generation" satellites launched to this position to replace the first generation Astra 2A, Astra 2B, Astra 2C and Astra 2D satellites originally positioned there between 1998 and 2001, and it joined Astra 2E and Astra 2F launched in 2013 and 2012, respectively.^[3]

Market[]

Astra 2G carries both Ku-band and Ka-band payloads and will deliver broadcast, VSAT and broadband services to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and will also provide the ability to connect West Africa to Europe via Ka-band.^[4] The Astra 28.2° East position was established in 1998 to provide digital television, digital radio and multimedia services to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a major part of Astra 2G's mission is to continue, extend and backup this provision. Along with Astra 2E and Astra 2F it will deliver programming to almost 13 million satellite homes, over 3 million cable homes, and 700,000 Internet Protocol television (IPTV_ homes in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in particular for channels from the major United Kingdom digital satellite television platforms, BSkyB and Freesat.

Astra 2G also supports SATMED, a satellite-based e-health platform developed by SES and supported by the Luxembourg Government and the Ministry for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action which enables communication between doctors, enabling the transfer and exchange of medical knowledge and supporting tools for medical e-learning and e-teaching to improve public health in emerging and developing countries, particularly in isolated areas.^[2]

Broadcasting footprints[]

Astra 2G has three Ku-band downlink beams and one Ka-band beam:^[4]

The Europeab beam is centred on the Benelux countries with reception from a 60 cm dish available across most of Europe - west to the Portuguese eastern border, east to Belarus, north to Estonia and south to coast of North Africa.
The UK beam provides maximum signal (for reception with 45 cm dishes) over the whole United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux and northern France with a sharp roll-off of signal level outside this region, in close approximation of the UK beam of Astra 2D. This enables channels to be broadcast free-to-air but with reception effectively constrained to the British Isles, and has been the basis for the Freesat free-to-air United Kingdom platform.^[5]
The strongest signals of the West Africa beam (receivable on 50 cm dishes) covers Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and northern Cameroon, with additional "lobes" for parts of Gabon and Congo. Reception on larger dishes is available across the entire sub-Saharan west Africa region.
The Ka-band footprint is centred on France with coverage over all of western Europe.

History[]

The launch of Astra 2G was intended to be from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by International Launch Services (ILS) Proton-M launch vehicle a month earlier, on 28 November 2014 but technical problems with the launch vehicle caused it to be rolled back from the launch pad to undergo a component replacement. The satellite had arrived at Baikonur on 29 October 2014 after a delayed flight from Europe - an emergency landing of the transport aircraft in the city of Ulyanovsk due to engine trouble required replacement of the aircraft's engine and a two-day delay.^[6]

Finally launched successfully on 27 December 2014, at 21:37:49 UTC,^[7] the satellite was initially positioned at 21.0° East for three months and then tested at 43.5° East,^[8]^[9] before moving to the Astra 28.2° East position in June 2015.^[10]

On 18 June 2015, the first six channels, including ITV and CH4, began broadcasting from Astra 2G,^[11] transferred from Astra 2E, Astra 2F and, in particular from Eutelsat 28A, which was some two years beyond its expected end-of-life and operating with some transponders considerably under power.^[12] The final Eutelsat 28A channels, including the Freesat EPG data channel, transferred to Astra 2G on 29 June 2015.^[13]

Active Transponders[]

Below is a list of the television channels broadcast to the UK and Ireland from active transponders on Astra 2G as of June 2021:^[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

Tp57 10.964 GHz H 22000 5/6:

5 Select
5 Star [also +1hr]
5 USA [also +1hr]
Channel 5 [also +1hr]
Channel 5 HD
Nick Jr Too UK
Paramount Network UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)

Tp61 11.023 GHz H 22000 5/6 DVB-S2:

BBC One Wales HD
BBC One Scotland HD
BBC Four HD
BBC News HD
BBC Scotland HD
CBeebies HD

Tp63 11.053 GHz H 23000 3/4 DVB-S2:

ITV 2 HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)
ITV Granada HD
ITV Tyne Tees HD
ITV Wales HD
ITV Westcountry South West HD
ITV Westcountry West HD

Tp64 11.068 GHz V 23000 3/4 DVB-S2:

ITV 4 HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)
ITV Anglia East HD
ITV Border England HD
ITV Yorkshire East HD
STV West HD
Ulster TV HD

Tp66 11.097 GHz V 23000 3/4 DVB-S2:

ITV 3 HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)
ITV Anglia West HD
ITV Central East HD
ITV Meridian South Coast HD
ITV Meridian Thames Valley HD
ITV Yorkshire West HD

Tp68 11.126 GHz V 22000 5/6:

Channel 4 London HD
4seven

European Beam

Tp62 11.038 GHz V 22000 5/6 DVB-S2 (encrypted in VideoGuard):

Animal Planet UK +1hr
Discovery Channel Ireland
Discovery Channel UK +1hr
Discovery History +1hr
Discovery Science UK +1hr
Discovery Turbo UK +1hr
DMAX Ireland (unencrypted)
Investigation Discovery Ireland
Investigation Discovery UK [also +1hr]
HGTV Ireland (unencrypted)
Quest Red Ireland (unencrypted)
TLC Ireland [also +1hr]

Tp65 11.082 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Ahlulbayt TV
Alibi Ireland
Aljazeera English
Blaze UK
Box Nation
CNN International Europe
Gold Ireland
Hillsong Channel
Inspiration TV
Jewellery Maker
Now 80's
Sikh Channel
Spotlight TV
W Ireland

Tp67 11.112 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Arise News
ARY Digital UK
ARY Family UK
ARY World
Brit Asia TV
Channel 7
Dunya News UK
Faith UK
Gems TV
Geo News International
High Street TV 3
Iqra Bangla
Iqra TV
Islam Channel
Islam TV
MATV Channel
Sanskar TV
Thane

Tp69 11.141 GHz H 22000 5/6 (encrypted in VideoGuard):

Comedy Central Ireland
Comedy Central UK [also +1hr]
Comedy Central Extra Ireland
MTV Hits
MTV Music
Nick Junior Ireland
Nick Junior Too Ireland
Nick Junior UK +1hr
Nickelodeon Ireland
Nickelodeon UK +1hr
NickToons Ireland

Tp71 11.171 GHz H 22000 5/6 (encrypted in VideoGuard):

Akaal Channel UK (unencrypted)
Boomerang UK [also +1hr]
Cartoon Network UK [also +1hr]
Cartoonito UK
Nick Jr UK
Nickelodeon UK
NickToons UK
Racing TV
TCM Movies [also +1hr]

Tp106 11.224 GHz V 23000 2/3 DVB-S2:

Arirang World HD
NHK World TV HD
RT UK HD

Tp107 11.264 GHz H 27500 2/3:

4Music (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Box Hits
Kerrang!
Kiss TV
Magic TV
The Box UK

Tp108 11.264 GHz V 27500 2/3:

Dunamis TV
EWTN
MTA 1 World
Phoenix CNE
Revelation TV
TBN
WION HD
Zee TV UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)

Tp89 11.464 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Aastha UK
Adult Channel (encrypted in VideoGuard)
British Muslim TV
Colors Cineplex (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Colors Rishtey Europe (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Cruise 1st TV
Euronews English
Gemporia Lifestyle
Islam Channel Urdu
NTV Europe
PTC Punjabi
Samaa TV
Smithsonian Channel UK
TV One
XXX various (encrypted in VideoGuard)

Tp90 11.479 GHz V 22000 5/6:

A1 TV
B4U Music UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)
B4U Movies UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Colors (encrypted in VideoGuard)
CNBC UK
Hidyat TV
Khalsa TV
London Live (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Madani Channel English
Sangat TV
TVC News Nigeria
TRT World
Venus TV
Voxafrica UK

Tp91 11.494 GHz H 22000 5/6:

QVC Beauty
QVC Extra
QVC Style UK
QVC UK

Tp92 11.509 GHz V 23000 2/3 DVB-S2:

Racing UK HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Smithsonian Channel UK HD
TRT World HD
Colors HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)

Tp94 11.538 GHz V 22000 5/6:

92 News
Ahlebait TV
ATN Bangla UK
Channel S
Faith World TV
Hi-Impact TV
Ion TV
KICC TV
Local TV (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Showcase TV
SportyStuff TV HD
Talking Pictures TV
The Word Network
UK 44

Tp95 11.553 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Celebration TV
Channels 24
Clubland TV
Deen TV
GoodNews TV
High Street TV2
High Street TV4
Live 360
NDTV 24x7
Noor TV
Now 90s
NTD
PTV Global
The Craft Store
TJC
Yanga!

Tp96 11.568 GHz V 22000 5/6:

Aaj Tak UK
Best Direct
Court TV UK
Faith World TV
Geo UK
God TV
High Street TV1
High Street TV5
JML Direct
Rok
RT English
SET Asia (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Sony SAB TV Asia (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Sony Max2 (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Travelxp
TV Warehouse

Tp97 11.582 GHz H 22000 5/6:

Aljazeera English HD
Arqiva
Eman Channel
Foodxp
Kanshi TV
Now 70s
Pitaara International
Sony Max UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)

Tp98 11.597 GHz V 22000 5/6:

Craft Extra
Eir Sport 1 HD (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Hum Masala UK
Hum TV Europe
Ideal Extra
Psychic Today
SBN International
Sky Sports Racing UK (encrypted in VideoGuard)
Takbeer TV

Tp100 11.627 GHz V 22000 5/6:

Comedy Central UK HD
Comedy Central Extra UK
MTV Base UK
MTV Classic UK
MTV Ireland
MTV UK
MTV UK HD
Nick Jr UK HD

Tp101 11.641 GHz H 23000 2/3 DVB-S2 (encrypted in VideoGuard):

Eir Sport 2 HD

Tp102 11.656 GHz V 22000 5/6 (encrypted in VideoGuard):

Utsav Bharat
Utsav Gold
Utsav Plus

Tp103 11.671 GHz H 23000 2/3 DVB-S2:

Create and Craft HD
CNN International Europe HD
Ideal World HD
Iran International HD
Loveworld TV HD

Tp104 11.686 GHz V 23000 2/3 DVB-S2:

Bloomberg TV UK HD
Daystar TV HD
France 24 English HD
The Jewellery Channel HD

References[]

^ "ASTRA 2G". N2YO.com. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "Astra 2G Satellite Roars Into Orbit" (Press release). SES. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
^ "SES Orders Four New Satellites From ASTRIUM" (Press release). SES. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ASTRA 2G Archived 2014-12-28 at the Wayback Machine SES Fact Sheet January 2015 Accessed January 3, 2014
^ Bains, Geoff "Flight of the Big Birds" What Satellite & Digital TV February 2012 pp.29
^ "Proton Technical Issues Postpone ILS Launch of Astra 2G" (Press release). SpaceNews. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
^ Successful Proton Mission Caps busy Year of Russian Space Launches Spaceflight 101 December 27, 2014 Accessed October 28, 2016
^ Single Satellite View for ASTRA 2G accessed March 3, 2015
^ Astra 2G: Testing at 43.5°E accessed May 18, 2015
^ Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed June 29, 2015
^ [1] Sat and PC Guy blog June 1, 2015 Accessed June 26, 2015
^ RACE AGAINST TIME TO REPLACE FAILING EUROBIRD SATELLITE Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Best TV Choice June 1, 2015 Accessed June 29, 2015
^ Freesat EPG and last few channels transfer from Eutelsat 28A to new Astra 2 satellites Sat and PC Guy blog June 29, 2015 Accessed June 29, 2015
^ "Astra 2G at 28.2°E". LyngSat. Retrieved 28 June 2021.

External links[]

[n2yo-1] "ASTRA 2G". N2YO.com. Retrieved 11 April 2021.

[SESlaunch-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b "Astra 2G Satellite Roars Into Orbit" (Press release). SES. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.

[3] "SES Orders Four New Satellites From ASTRIUM" (Press release). SES. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2015.

[factsheet-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b ASTRA 2G Archived 2014-12-28 at the Wayback Machine SES Fact Sheet January 2015 Accessed January 3, 2014

[5] Bains, Geoff "Flight of the Big Birds" What Satellite & Digital TV February 2012 pp.29

[6] "Proton Technical Issues Postpone ILS Launch of Astra 2G" (Press release). SpaceNews. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2015.

[7] Successful Proton Mission Caps busy Year of Russian Space Launches Spaceflight 101 December 27, 2014 Accessed October 28, 2016

[8] Single Satellite View for ASTRA 2G accessed March 3, 2015

[9] Astra 2G: Testing at 43.5°E accessed May 18, 2015

[10] Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed June 29, 2015

[11] [1] Sat and PC Guy blog June 1, 2015 Accessed June 26, 2015

[12] RACE AGAINST TIME TO REPLACE FAILING EUROBIRD SATELLITE Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Best TV Choice June 1, 2015 Accessed June 29, 2015

[13] Freesat EPG and last few channels transfer from Eutelsat 28A to new Astra 2 satellites Sat and PC Guy blog June 29, 2015 Accessed June 29, 2015

[14] "Astra 2G at 28.2°E". LyngSat. Retrieved 28 June 2021.

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show v t Satellites operated by SES S.A.
SES fleet	Active: SES-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (EchoStar 105) 12 14 15 16 (GovSat-1) Planned: SES-17
AMC fleet	Active: AMC-4 6 8 10 11 15 16 18 21 Backups: AMC-7 Retired: AMC-1 2 3 5 9 Failed launch: AMC-14
NSS fleet	Active: NSS-6 7 9 11 806 Retired: NSS-5 513 703 Failed launch: NSS-8
Astra fleet	Active: Astra 1KR 1L 1M 1N 2E 2F 2G 3B 4A 5B Backups: Astra 1D 1F 1G 1H 2A 2B 2C 2D 3A Retired: Astra 1A 1B 1C 1E 5A Sirius 3 Failed launch: Astra 1K Orbital positions: 5.0°E 19.2°E 23.5°E 28.2°E 31.5°E Subsidiary: SES Astra
Third parties	Active: Ciel-2 MonacoSAT QuetzSat 1 Yahsat 1A

show v t ← 2013 · Orbital launches in 2014 · 2015 →
January	GSAT-14 – Thaicom 6 – CRS Orb-1 (Flock-1 × 28 · · Lituanica SAT-1 · LitSat-1 · SkyCube · UAPSat-1) – TDRS-L
February	Progress M-22M – ABS-2 · Athena-Fidus – Türksat 4A – USA-248 – GPM Core · Ginrei · KSAT-2 · INVADER · OPUSAT · STARS-II · TeikyoSat-3 · ITF-1
March	Ekspress AT1 · Ekspress AT2 – Astra 5B · Amazonas 4A – Kosmos 2494 – Soyuz TMA-12M –
April	– Sentinel-1A – IRNSS-1B – Progress M-23M – Ofek-10 – – EgyptSat 2 – SpaceX CRS-3 · KickSat · PhoneSat 2.5 · · · – Luch 5V · KazSat-3 –
May	– Ekspress AM4R – USA-251 – – · · · Kosmos 2499 – ALOS-2 · Raijin-2 · UNIFORM-1 · SOCRATES · – Eutelsat 3B – Soyuz TMA-13M
June	Kosmos 2500 – Deimos-2 · KazEOSat 2 · Hodoyoshi 3 · Hodoyoshi 4 · AprizeSat 9, 10 · BRITE-Montreal · BRITE-Toronto · BugSat 1 · SaudiSat-4 · TabletSat-Aurora · UniSat-6 ( · · Lemur-1 · Tigrisat) · · · · · Perseus-M × 2 · · · · · Flock-1c × 11 – SPOT 7 · CanX-4 · CanX-5 · ·
July	OCO-2 – Gonets-M No. 8, 9, 10 – Meteor-M 2 · · · · · · – O3b × 4 (FM3, FM6, FM7, FM8) – CRS Orb-2 (Flock-1b × 28 · TechEdSat-4) – Orbcomm-2 × 6 – Foton-M No.4 – Progress M-24M – · · USA-255 – Georges Lemaître ATV
August	USA-256 – AsiaSat 8 – A, B, C – WorldView-3 – · Heweliusz – Galileo FOC-1 · Galileo FOC-2
September	· – AsiaSat 6 – · – · Optus 10 – – SpaceX CRS-4 – Soyuz TMA-14M – Olimp-K –
October	Himawari 8 – IRNSS-1C – Intelsat 30 · ARSAT-1 – – Ekspress AM6 – Chang'e 5-T1 · 4M – – Cygnus CRS Orb-3 (Arkyd-3 · Flock-1d × 26 · · ) – Progress M-25M – USA-258 –
November	· Hodoyoshi 1 · · · TSUBAME – – – – Soyuz TMA-15M – Kosmos 2501
December	Hayabusa2 · PROCYON · · – Orion EFT-1 – DirecTV-14 · GSAT-16 – CBERS-4 – A, B, C – – Yamal-401 – O3b × 4 (FM9 to FM12) – Kondor-E No.2 – – – Resurs-P No.2 – – Astra 2G – Fengyun 2-08
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ). Crewed flights are bolded. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets).