ASTRA 1A

About This Satellite

ASTRA 1A launched on December 11, 1988 as the first SES communications satellite. Its 16 transponders helped expand television choice in Europe. The mission belongs to the early development of household satellite reception, when the practicality of the receiving equipment mattered alongside the performance of the spacecraft.

Smaller receiving equipment helped bring satellite TV home

SES's history highlights advances in low-noise block converter technology that enabled reception with dishes around 60 centimetres across in the markets described. The LNB is the receiving assembly at the dish, not an instrument aboard ASTRA 1A. That historical dish size is not a universal reception guarantee for every location, weather condition, or later broadcast service.

A shared orbital location did not mean a shared spacecraft

ASTRA 1B joined the same 19.2 degrees East neighbourhood after its March 1991 launch, bringing the combined transponder count to 32. That expansion came from another satellite. ASTRA 1A's individual catalog record should not inherit the total capacity or operational status of all spacecraft using the ASTRA name.

Mission reference: SES ASTRA: ASTRA 1A and the development of direct satellite television. Editorial review: 2026-09-14.

A television neighbourhood can outlive its first satellite

SES traces the 19.2 degrees East service back to ASTRA 1A in 1988 and describes the later addition of more than a dozen spacecraft. The location became a continuing broadcast destination while the hardware changed. For a historical account, distinguish the origin of that service from the identity of the spacecraft delivering it at a later date.

Reference: SES: the history of the 19.2 degrees East television neighbourhood.

Do not assign modern ASTRA specifications to ASTRA 1A

SES's June 2024 launch announcement gives ASTRA 1P an all-electric Spacebus NEO platform and 80 transponders. These are specifications of the later replacement generation, not retroactive upgrades to ASTRA 1A. Comparing the two is useful for understanding changing broadcast infrastructure, provided the satellite name and date stay attached to every capacity figure.

Reference: SES: ASTRA 1P launch and its distinct 2024 platform specifications.

Reading this orbital snapshot

Based on TLE epoch: 2026-09-04. Estimated altitude ranges from 36,268 km at perigee to 36,406 km at apogee, a difference of 138 km. The orbital period is about 1464.3 minutes. Eccentricity 0.00162 indicates a nearly circular path. In a two-body approximation, perigee speed is 1.00 times apogee speed. These are mean-element estimates, not instantaneous measurements. Distance per orbit uses an ellipse approximation.

Saved build snapshot. If a valid TLE is retrieved, this explanation and the orbit panel update together. Otherwise this dated snapshot is retained.

Ground track is not sensor coverage

An inclination of 14.83 degrees implies approximate geocentric ground-track limits of 14.8 degrees north and south. This is a prograde orbit, moving in the same general direction as Earth rotation. The plotted line marks the point beneath the object. It does not represent camera coverage, radio reception, or a guaranteed visible pass.

Is it fixed above one longitude?

The snapshot period is 1464.3 minutes. A sidereal day is about 1,436.07 minutes. Height alone does not establish a geostationary orbit: the period must match Earth rotation and the path must be circular and equatorial. This catalog uses a five-minute period tolerance for near-geosynchronous labels; near-geostationary additionally requires inclination at most 1 degree and eccentricity at most 0.01. These are browsing categories, not evidence of station-keeping or a fixed longitude.

Accuracy and missing information

The introductory record describes the build snapshot. The orbital snapshot explanation and orbit panel share any successfully retrieved TLE; check the displayed epoch. Reentered objects retain historical data only. Mission history is not rewritten by TLE updates. TLE/SGP4 positions are predictions and can change after maneuvers or updated observations. The 14-day stale-data cutoff is a display safeguard, not an accuracy guarantee. Local passes are geometric predictions, not a visibility forecast. No verified operator or mission status means unknown, not active. Do not use this catalog for collision avoidance or operational flight decisions.

Catalog sources: CelesTrak SATCAT: NORAD 19688 · GCAT: S19688 (source update 2026 Sep 4 2345:57). Supplementary metadata: SatNOGS DB, retrieved 2026-09-05T12:57:25.375Z. Page assembled 2026-09-15. GCAT phase codes describe trajectory phases, not mission health.

Learn more: TLE data · Perigee and apogee · Ground tracks · JOT (Jewawud Live Orbital Map)

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