Astra 1K was a communications satellite manufactured by Alcatel Space for SES Astra. When it was launched on November 25, 2002 it was the largest civilian communications satellite ever launched, weighing . Intended to replace three earlier Astra satellites, the Block DM-3 upper stage of the Proton rocket launch vehicle failed to function properly, leaving the satellite in an unusable parking orbit.

The satellite was intentionally de-orbited on December 10, 2002.

The satellite featured frequency re-use for some of its transponders, using dual patterns coverage, one covering eastern Europe, the other covering UK. Design was meant to cover specific markets only, in order to expand the capacity of the fleet, as frequency re-use enables more channels to be transmitted simultaneously at the same frequency, with the drawback that channels broadcasted on the UK beam won't be receptible by any means (no matter how large the receiving dish would be) in the east beam and vice versa.

This would have left France and neighboring countries (except UK) without reception of either of the beams, as the beams overlap over those countries, efficiently jamming each other.

It also featured multiple Ka Band capabilities.

References

External links

• Astra 1K, Günter's Space page
• Alcatel Astra 1K Spacecraft