Astra 1P provides enhanced capability to deliver premium content with improved reliability and image quality to 118 million TV households.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched Astra 1P on 2024-06-20 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Astra 1P has been brought into service over Europe and is serving 118 million TV households.
SES launched the ASTRA 1P satellite on 2024-06-20 from Cape Canaveral, Florida to augment its satellite fleet at the 19.2 degrees East video neighborhood.
The Ku-band ASTRA 1P satellite will augment and strengthen SES’s prime TV neighborhood at 19.2 degrees East while delivering content for public and private broadcasters, sports organizations, and content owners across the largest European TV markets.
Astra 1P will spend much of the year using on-board electric propulsion to reach its orbital slot at 19.2 degrees East.
Thales Alenia Space built ASTRA 1P on the 100% electric Spacebus NEO platform.
SpaceX launched Astra 1P for Luxembourg fleet operator SES on 2024-06-20 toward geostationary orbit.
SES ordered the Ku-band Astra 1Q satellite from Thales Alenia Space in 2021 at the same time as Astra 1P for the 19.2 degrees East orbital position.
Astra 1P’s Ku-band capacity would be enough to replace all four satellites at 19.2 degrees East once they retire.
SES states that ASTRA 1P will replace aging satellites in SES's 19.2° East prime video neighborhood and will increase available capacity.
ASTRA 1P was successfully launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States at 5:35 pm local time.
ASTRA 1P is a classic wide-beam satellite based on the full electric Spacebus NEO platform developed by Thales Alenia Space.
ASTRA 1P will join SES’s fleet of geostationary satellites and operate at the 19.2 degrees East orbital position to deliver content to viewers in Europe.
ASTRA 1P features 80 transponders capable of delivering 500 HD TV channels.
The successful launch of ASTRA 1P is a significant milestone for both SES and SpaceX.
ASTRA 1P is the most powerful satellite to operate at 19.2 degrees East and will replace the four satellites currently at that orbital location while continuing to serve 119 million TV households.
ASTRA 1P is based on the full-electric Spacebus NEO platform developed by Thales Alenia Space and that platform is already flight proven in orbit.
Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus NEO platform used for ASTRA 1P is already flight proven in orbit.
ASTRA 1P integration of RF hardware took place in the North half module clean room in Toulouse operated by Thales Alenia Space.