Sirius (satellite)
Siriuswas a constellation ofcommunications satellitesoperated at5.0° Eastingeostationary orbit(GEO) byNSAB(laterSES Sirius,and now a non-autonomous part ofSES,owner and operator of theAstra satellites). They carrieddigitalsatellite televisionto the countries ofScandinavia,Baltic states,Eastern EuropeandAfrica,including theViasatpay TVsystem, along with several pay TV packages for Eastern Europe, theTopTVpackage for Africa, a number ofUkrainianchannels and the nationalLatvianandLithuanianchannel servicefree-to-air.
Satellites[edit]
Sirius 4[edit]
A fourth satellite, Sirius 4, was ordered in 2005 and launched at 22:39:47 UTC on 17 November 2007. It carries 52 activeKu-bandtranspondersand two activeKa-bandtransponders.[1]Sirius 4 was built byLockheed Martin Space Systemsbased upon theA2100AXdesign.[2]
Among the services carried areViasatandViasat Ukrainewhich has used the Sirius satellites for their digital platform since its launch.
Sirius 4 was renamed toAstra 4Ain June 2010, when the SES took full ownership and control ofSES Sirius.[3]
Sirius 5[edit]
Sirius 5 was the original name of theSES-5satellite. SES-5 that was launched in July 2012 and is now co-located withAstra 4A(Sirius 4) at 5.0° East. This satellite provides a similar European and African coverage as Astra 4A. When ordered by theSES SiriusAB ofSwedenin October 2008, the name of the satellite was Sirius 5. SES Sirius was acquired by SES in 2010 and the company was namedSES Astra(a subsidiary of SES). This led to the satellite being renamed to Astra 4B in 2010. The name was changed to SES-5 in 2011.
Retired satellites[edit]
Sirius 1[edit]
Sirius 1 (later Sirius W) was purchased fromBritish Sky BroadcastingafterSky Television'smerger withBritish Satellite Broadcasting(BSB) (the merger was conducted on Sky's terms and BSB's satellites were sold in favour of Sky's leasedAstrasatellite operations). The satellite had previously operated asMarcopolo 1.It operated at 5.0° East from 1994 until 2000, when it was moved to 13.0° West. It operated here before being moved to agraveyard orbitin 2003.
Sirius 2[edit]
Sirius 2 was manufactured byAérospatialeand launched fromKourouon 12 November 1997 to replace theTele-Xsatellite. It is of the modelSpacebus 3000B2and has 32Ku-bandtransponders with beams targeting both the Nordic region and all of Europe.
It was moved to31.5° East(0°00′N31°30′E/ 0°N 31.5°E) and renamedAstra 5Aon 29 April 2008. The Astra 5A satellite mission ended on 16 January 2009 due to an abnormal condition with the spacecraft.[4]
Sirius 3[edit]
Sirius 3 was stationed at 51.2° East at the end if its lifetime (0°00′N51°12′E/ 0°N 51.2°E) in aninclined orbit.[5]Sirius 3 was leased to SES immediately after its launch on 5 October 1998 for a period of 12 months (after which it was moved to its original destination of 5.0° East) to provide capacity at 28.2° East and to back upAstra 2A,pending the launch ofAstra 2Bon 14 September 2000.[6]Satellite was retired in 2015 and moved to agraveyard orbit.[7]
Sirius Satellite Radio[edit]
The Sirius satellites are not the satellites used for the AmericanSirius Satellite Radioservice, whose satellites are namedRadiosat 1-4due to being launched after the Sirius fleet of satellites.
References[edit]
- ^"ILS Proton to Launch SES' Sirius 4".ILS Launch. 9 November 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 13 November 2007.
- ^"Sirius-4 Specifications".Khrunichev. Archived fromthe originalon 2 December 2007.
- ^"SES SIRIUS BECOMES SES ASTRA"(Press release). SES Astra. 22 June 2010.Retrieved26 January2012.
- ^"SES ASTRA Announces End Of ASTRA 5A Spacecraft Mission"(Press release). SES Astra. 16 January 2009.Retrieved26 January2012.
- ^Sirius 3 at 51.2°E,Lyngsat, archived fromthe originalon 15 November 2012,retrieved24 November2012
- ^"Astra 2A ready for commercial operations at 28.2° East. Astra 1D to be relocated to 19.2° East"(Press release). SES Astra. 15 January 1998.
- ^"Sirius 3".
External links[edit]
- Sirius 1 info from Swedish Space CorporationArchived2 August 2009 at theWayback Machine
- Sirius 2 info from Swedish Space CorporationArchived2 August 2009 at theWayback Machine
- Sirius 3 info from Swedish Space CorporationArchived2 August 2009 at theWayback Machine
- Siriusfootprint(s)at SatBeams
- SES- Official SES site
- SES fleet information