NEWTOWN, Conn. - Eleven days after the launch of SES-6 on board an ILS Proton, SES' next satellite, the ASTRA 2E, has safely arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft will now be processed for a July 21 launch (local time Baikonur) on board a Proton launch vehicle.
ASTRA 2E was built for SES by Astrium of France. Based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, the spacecraft will carry 60 Ku-band transponders, as well as 3 wideband Ka-band transponders. It will enable the delivery of broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the neighborhood of 28.2° East. ASTRA 2E will have a launch mass of 6 metric tons, a wingspan of 40 meters (131 ft) once its solar arrays are deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of 13 kW at the end of its 15-year design lifetime.
SES Global is in the midst of a capital spending program that began in 2010 and will run to 2014. Under the program, the company plans to increase its on-orbit capacity by 28 percent. Many of the new satellites will be deployed in regions of the world where demand for satellite capacity is growing rapidly, such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In addition to meeting growing demand, SES will need to continue to replace aging satellites throughout the next decade and beyond. Operating a fleet of nearly 50 satellites means that SES continually has satellites that reach the end of their useful lifespans.
