ASTRA 1K Satellite Stabilised.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers BETZDORF, Luxembourg--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2002 Following the failure of the Proton launch vehicle to place ASTRA 1K Astra 1K was a communications satellite manufactured by Alcatel Space for SES Astra. When it was launched on November 25, 2002 it was the most massive civilian communications satellite ever launched, weighing 5250 kg (0 lb). , the fourteenth satellite in the ASTRA ASTRA Ancient Instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application ASTRA Australian Strategic Air Traffic Management Group ASTRA Arab Supply and Trading Corporation ASTRA Automatic System for Transport Analysis ASTRA Automatic Satellite Tracking Research Antenna series, into the correct orbit on November 26th, 2002, the technical teams of SES ASTRA, Alcatel Space, CNES CNES Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (French Space Agency) and NORAD NORAD abbr. North American Aerospace (formerly Air) Defense Command have succeeded in stabilising the spacecraft in a circular orbit at an altitude of 290 km, where it can be safely sustained to allow the engineering teams to assess the status of the satellite and appropriate actions in due course. Notes to Editors ASTRA 1K was built by Alcatel Space of France, with Proton launch services from the Cosmodrome of Baikonur (Kazakhstan) provided by ILS ILS In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Israeli Shekel. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. (International Launch Services International Launch Services (or ILS) was formed in 1995 as a private spaceflight partnership between the United States defense contractor Lockheed Martin (LM) (LM sold their part later) and the Russian firms Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC ), a US-Russian joint venture. The spacecraft was intended to operate at ASTRA's orbital position of 19.2(degree) East. SES ASTRA has full insurance coverage for the ASTRA 1K programme and the launch failure will not affect existing services at 19.2(degree) East. Furthermore, ASTRA 2C, already operational at 19.2(degree) East, offers comprehensive back-up for the ASTRA low-bands at this slot and will remain there until further notice. Interactive Ka-Band services will continue to be provided by the existing Ka-band payload on ASTRA 1H. With an existing available surplus capacity of roughly 20% of the 13 satellite strong ASTRA fleet in orbit, SES ASTRA, over the coming months, will reassess its future needs and make investment decisions on ASTRA 1K replacement capacity accordingly. |
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