POSTED ON: JANUARY 12TH, 2015
Airbus Defence and Space has successfully completed the initial in-orbit testing of ASTRA 2G and has handed over the control of the satellite to SES who will now validate the performance of its communications payload. Afterwards, it will begin operational service at its 28.2/28.5-degrees East orbital location in order to provide next generation broadcast and broadband services.
The ASTRA 2G telecommunications satellite was launched by an ILS Proton Breeze M launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 27 December 2014 at 21:24 GMT. Launch and Early Orbit Phase operations have been conducted from the Airbus Defence and Space spacecraft control centre in Toulouse. A series of manoeuvres enabled the satellite to reach geostationary orbit on 2 January, the solar arrays and antenna reflectors have been successfully deployed and the satellite has acquired final Earth pointing. All spacecraft functions are performing as expected.