SES SA has announced that the ASTRA 2F satellite has successfully completed its in-orbit testing and will be operational for commercial service
ASTRA 2F was built by Astrium in Toulouse using a Eurostar E3000 platform. SES has informed that the multi-mission satellite will carry Ku-band and Ka-band payloads for the delivery of high-performance DTH and broadband services in Africa and Europe.
Of the spacecraft’s payload, 48 Ku-band transponders will cover Europe and 12 Ku-band transponders will be dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa, while three Ka-band transponders will allow SES Broadband Services to support download speeds of up to 20Mbps.
ASTRA 2F is part of a larger fleet replacement and expansion programme at the 28.2/28.5 degrees East neighborhood, consisting of ASTRA 2E, 2F and 2G, that will provide replacement and growth capacity for the UK and Ireland as well as for other services in and outside of Europe.
ASTRA 2E and ASTRA 2G, also under construction with Astrium, have been scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
