The satellite suffered pre-launch technical issues with its apogee motors and was moved to a launch by the
Proton-K /
DM-03 rather than the
Ariane 5, as the Proton can inject directly in
geostationary orbit (GEO). When positioned at 28.2 East, it joined
DFS Kopernikus-1, which served mainly
Eastern Europe. The satellite was the first of Astra's craft to never carry analogue television services (with the exception of a solitary test card in 1999), and as of 2006, carried standard definition digital television, digital radio, and high-definition digital television, as well as Sky Interactive streams and the
AVC Broadband and Silvermead satellite Internet services. Two beams "2A North" and "2A South" transmitted on horizontal and vertical polarisation, with the South beam covering almost all of Europe, and the North beam covering only Northern Europe at a high power. In March 2015, two years beyond Astra 2A's projected lifespan, and following the launches of
Astra 2E in 2013,
Astra 2F in 2012, and
Astra 2G in 2014 to 28.2° East, all remaining traffic was transferred from Astra 2A to the newer satellites. From 25 March 2015, Astra 2A remained at 28.2° East, inactive, and was expected to be moved to
Astra 23.5°E to operate as a backup satellite to
Astra 3B but in the summer of 2016 it was instead moved to 113.5°E. In July 2018, Astra 2A started moving west at approximately 0.6°/day to arrive at its new position of 100° East in August 2018. In May 2020, Astra 2A started moving west at approx 0.8°/day. and in the autumn 2020, it was back at 28.2°E. The satellite was moved to 57.2°E in 2022 Since May 2025, Astra 2A has been non-operational and drifting west at approximately 5.8°/day. == See also ==