The Proton M launch vehicle, utilizing a 5-burn Breeze M mission design, lifted off from Pad 39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, with the Astra 2E satellite on board, on Monday September 30, 2013. Astra 2E entered in to commercial service on Saturday February 1, 2014.
SES ASTRA customers in this region include BSkyB, BBC, ITV, Freesat, Channel Four, Channel 5, UK TV, Virgin Media, MTV and Discovery.
The Astra 2E satellite is fitted with 60 Ku-band transponders.
Astra 2E has three Ku-band downlink beams covering Europe and the Middle East:
- The Europe beam is centred on the English Channel with maximum signal over the UK, Ireland, France, Benelux, and parts of Germany, Austria, and Spain (including a “lobe” specifically designed to serve the Canary Islands), and reception on a larger dish extending to Italy, Poland, North Africa, and the Balkans.
- The UK Spot beam provides maximum signal (for 45 cm dishes) over the UK and Ireland 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 UK platform.
- The Middle East beam is centred on the Arabian peninsula and extends to Turkey and into eastern Africa, to provide for reception with 50 cm dishes.
- The Ka-band footprint for satellite broadband provides full service coverage centred on central Europe and extending to France, Italy, the Balkans, the UK, and southern Sweden and Norway.
