Astra 2A was one of the Astra communications satellites owned by SES. Launched in 1998 into the 28.2° East orbital position, half its expected end-of-life capacity of 28 transponders were pre-booked by BSkyB, to launch the new Sky Digital service. The satellite was retired after more than 26 years.

History The satellite suffered pre-launch technical issues with its apogee motors and was moved to a launch by the Proton-K / DM-03 rather than the Ariane 5, as the Proton can inject directly in geostationary orbit (GEO).The Satellite Encyclopaedia

When positioned at 28.2 East, it joined DFS Kopernikus-1, which served mainly Eastern Europe. The satellite was the first of Astra's craft to never carry analogue television services (with the exception of a solitary test card in 1999LyngSat (archived)), and as of 2006, carried standard definition digital television, digital radio, and high-definition digital television, as well as Sky Interactive streams and the AVC Broadband and Silvermead satellite Internet services. Two beams "2A North" and "2A South" transmitted on horizontal and vertical polarisation, with the South beam covering almost all of Europe, and the North beam covering only Northern Europe at a high power.

In March 2015, two years beyond Astra 2A's projected lifespan, and following the launches of Astra 2E in 2013, Astra 2F in 2012, and Astra 2G in 2014 to 28.2° East, all remaining traffic was transferred from Astra 2A to the newer satellites.Astra 2A frequencies moved to Astra 2E and 2F The Sat And PC Guy 5 March 2015 Accessed 25 March 2015 From 25 March 2015, Astra 2A remained at 28.2° East, inactive, and was expected to be moved to Astra 23.5°E to operate as a backup satellite to Astra 3BWhere markets grow via satellite: Our global satellite fleet SES January 2012 but in the summer of 2016 it was instead moved to 113.5°E.Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 30 October 2016 In July 2018, Astra 2A started moving west at approximately 0.6°/dayREAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 29 July 2018 to arrive at its new position of 100° East in August 2018.Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 20 August 2018 In May 2020, Astra 2A started moving west at approx 0.8°/day.REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 30 May 2020 and in the autumn 2020, it was back at 28.2°E.REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 31 December 2020 The satellite was moved to 57.2°E in 2022REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS Accessed 23 August 2022 Since May 2025, Astra 2A has been non-operational and drifting west at approximately 5.8°/day.Real Time Satellite Tracking And Predictions Accessed 29 May 2025

See also

Astra 2E Astra 2F Astra 2G Astra 2B Astra 2C Astra 2D Astra 28.2°E main lifetime orbital position

References

External links

SES fleet information and map Official SES site