Luxembourg’s latest satellite, Astra 1N, is slated for launch late on Friday evening from Kourou, in French Guiana. Astra 1N is a huge craft and will add 52 active Ku-band transponders to the SES fleet.

Initially it will serve the UK and Irish market from 28.2 deg East. However, assuming all goes well with the launch, Astra will then undertake some fleet re-structuring with new satellites coming on stream and which will permit SES to relocate 1N to its long-term ‘home’ at 19.2 deg East, serving  continental Europe.

Astra 1N is scheduled for launch (Paris time) between 23.43pm July 1 and 1.06am July 2).

A video broadcast of the launch is available via Astra`s orbital position 19.2 degrees East, transponder 1.037, downlink frequency 11023.25 Mhz, horizontal polarisation, symbol rate 22.0 MSym/s, FEC 5/6, service ID 5232, service name Astra 1N Launch or via www.arianespace.com.

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