Artistic rendering of the ASTRA 1N satellite.
SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) has announced that its new ASTRA 1N satellite has been successfully launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on August 6th at 19.52 p.m. local time (00:52 pm Central European Summer Time August 7th). ASTRA 1N is set to deliver DTH services, notably digital and HD television in Europe. The satellite will first provide interim replacement capacity at 28.2 degrees East, and will subsequently be moved to 19.2 degrees East, from where it will mainly serve the German, French, and Spanish markets.
ASTRA 1N was built by Astrium using their Eurostar E3000 platform and is equipped with 52 transponders in the Ku-band. The satellite had a launch mass of 5,325 kg and is the fourth Eurostar satellite in the SES fleet. ASTRA 1N will be brought into commercial service within the next weeks after extensive in-orbit testing.
ASTRA 1N is launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Korou, French Guiana. Photo courtesy of SES.
“The successful launch of ASTRA 1N is another important milestone in our ambitious launch manifest for 2011, which will see four additional SES launches before year-end,” said Romain Bausch, President and CEO of SES. “ASTRA 1N will greatly enhance the flexibility of SES’ ASTRA satellite fleet at two key SES orbital slots over Europe and we would like to thank our longstanding partners Astrium and Arianespace for this mission success.”