Astra 31.5°E

Astra 31.5°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 31.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 31.5° east is SES' newest orbital location serving Europe (the others being at 19.2° east, 28.2° east, 23.5° east, and 5° east).

The first satellites to commercially exploit this position were the Astra 5A and Astra 1D craft, which provided for services downlinking in the 10.70 GHz-12.50 GHz range of the K_u band across Europe, Western Russia and the Middle East.

Astra 31.5°E is SES' newest satellite position, intended to develop the markets for direct-to-home (DTH) standard definition and high definition TV and radio broadcasting, interactive TV, cable contribution, and DTT and other terrestrial feeds in Eastern Europe and the Middle East – the latter not served by Astra satellites before.

Countries included within the intended market for this position, include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

The pan-European beam of Astra 5A provided capacity for cable distribution, DTT and other terrestrial feeds, while 5A’s CEE beam provided a high-power footprint for the DTH market.

Following the failure of Astra 5A, its replacement first by Astra 2C and then by Astra 1G has provided similar coverage and, as of July 2010, there are eight transponders leased on this satellite, including one to provide IP backbone services to small and medium-sized ISPs in the Middle East and Caucasus region where terrestrial telecommunications infrastructures are underdeveloped.

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