Astra 2E: Transit to 28.2E

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Yes, that's the chap.

But there may be merit in Huevos' remark and if she does burn and turn earlier and the transfers are done in two or three overnight blocks, then SES can pat themselves on the back for their apparent efficiency.
 
There actually weren't queries from lots of people...mainly someone from Tenerife LOL...But I agree with Huevos, it was kind of 'crowd control' and truthfully they only have to keep their investors and clients as informed as they need to be, not a small group of enthusiasts. Having said that I see no reason why they couldn't improve on their PR...
 
I emailed SES over Christmas and had a response from them via email last week with the same text and working as what was posted on facebook. My estimation would be that once 2E arrives at 28.2E on the 31st, they'll spend a couple of days getting her sorted housekeeping-wise, hand her over to SES followed by an official press release Monday 3rd saying she's ready and operational, as SES always do once their new birds are in their final position.

I would also strongly say that they'll illuminate a couple of TP's for testing purposes. As 2E can cover the C band which currently has unused spectrum I think they'll light up a TP to test 2E's spot footprint at final location prior to mass migration of transponders from 1N. There's also unused TP's on 2A which a couple on 2E could be illuminated, one spot, one PE, purely for testing purposes - they didn't do this on 2F so may not happen.

The wording in the email, as per sonnetpete's post and what was put on facebook, suggests the migration taking place over several weeks during February. If 2A's TP's are also to move along with the 1N UK spots (TP's 41-56) then that's a fair bit of work to do and won't be done in one single night, probably over three or four nights spaced out over a couple of weeks.
 
sonnetpete said:
There actually weren't queries from lots of people...mainly someone from Tenerife LOL...But I agree with Huevos, it was kind of 'crowd control' and truthfully they only have to keep their investors and clients as informed as they need to be, not a small group of enthusiasts. Having said that I see no reason why they couldn't improve on their PR...
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Wonder who that was ;). Certainly not me :).
 
Well, whatever happens, I've dusted off my Woggle and created a General Discussion Topic in anticipation, to go along with the Regional Reports Topics that have been on ice for months!

Heck, I might even Open them all in a week or so ...................
 
Tivù said:
Well, whatever happens, I've dusted off my Woggle and created a General Discussion Topic in anticipation, to go along with the Regional Reports Topics that have been on ice for months!

Heck, I might even Open them all in a week or so ...................
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"The same procedure as last year?"......(I.E. designated TP's with which to test?)
 
Good scheme.

I hope AS will get his PushPins out!
 
There's also unused TP's on 2A which a couple on 2E could be illuminated, one spot, one PE, purely for testing purposes - they didn't do this on 2F so may not happen.
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Yep, but they kind of used the BBC HD transponder, which didnt carry regular channels at the time, for testing their satellite too. Transponders carrying regular services only followed over 10 days later. So I think they will do some test broadcasts... I think it'll be worth having crazyscan ready on 28.2 come 31st of January...
 
Solly ...How do you know the position of 2E ?...are you tracking its position..?or some other way ..?
 
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Steve Steve said:
Solly ...How do you know the position of 2E ?...are you tracking iis position..?or some other way ..?
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look here:

http://www.satellite-calculations.com/Satellite/satellitemotion.php?26/171/0/39285

There are multiple sites like that. I like this one the most.
The estimation ! of the position is based on published TLE. Someone sits somewhere in the US and regularly looks at all the satellites and measures their position and trajectories.
Based upon this data you can calculate the current position. That is of course only accurate until someone fires the thrusters. ;)
Therefore it's important to look at the epoch time, ie the time when the measurement was done. The fresher the data the better.
On this site the epoch date&time is displayed in the bottom. Additionally the age is displayed on the right hand side.
 
when it gets near 28.2 east it will be worth again to look after the beacon etc. to confirm the correct location. Then we know exactly when it is there.
 
Or we could just wait for a Transponder or six to light up!
 
@steve two way to traking over net sat calculator
new tle will be end of this wekeend
and secend check on spectrum analizer small becon
tonight will be pass 36 e
 
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