Astra 3B satellite scheduled for launch tomorrow

SES Astra yesterday announced that after additional technical checks, the launch of its new satellite Astra 3B is now scheduled for tomorrow. The satellite will be launched into space from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. Astra 3B was built by...

SES Astra yesterday announced that after additional technical checks, the launch of its new satellite Astra 3B is now scheduled for tomorrow.

The satellite will be launched into space from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. Astra 3B was built by EADS Astrium in Toulouse using a Eurostar E3000 platform.

Astra 3B will be located at 23.5 degrees East, Astra's orbital position for delivering Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcast services mainly to the Benelux and Eastern Europe as well as two-way broadband services across Europe and the Middle East.

It will allow SES Astra to extend the geographical coverage and the service to customers and offer DTH TV reception from Spain to the Black Sea.

It will also help to further optimise the spectrum use at 23.5 degrees east.

The launch of Astra 3B will be transmitted live on www.videocorner.tv/index.htm and via Astra satellite. The transmission starts 20 minutes prior to the launch.

SES Astra is the leading DTH satellite system in Europe. The satellite fleet currently comprises 15 satellites.

The Astra satellite system delivers services to more than 125 million DTH and cable households and transmits more than 2,500 analogue and digital television and radio channels.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.