SES has now confirmed the December 28 launch date of its Astra 2G satellite on a Proton rocket.
The date was already announced by Roscosmos, but not confirmed by SES or ILS.
The launch on board an ILS Proton booster will take place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 28 at 03:37:49 Baikonur Time (December 27 at 22:37:49 GMT).
Designed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, Astra 2G is based on the Eurostar E3000 platform. It will have a launch mass of 6 tons, a wingspan of 40m once its solar arrays are deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of 13kW until the end of its 15-year design life.
Astra 2G will be deployed in geostationary orbit at the 28.2/28.5 degrees East neighbourhood to provide next generation broadcast and broadband services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The spacecraft carries 62 Ku-band transponders and 4 Ka-band transponders.
Astra 2G will be the twenty-fourth SES satellite to be launched by ILS Proton, and the ninth Eurostar satellite in the SES fleet. Three more E3000s are currently in production for SES. The Proton booster itself will mark its 401st launch with ASTRA 2G.
A live broadcast of the launch in HD will be available via Astra at the orbital position of 19.2 degrees East, on 11023.25 MHz/H, service name Astra 2G Launch.
A webcast will also be available via http://astra2g.imgondemand.com/. The video transmission of the launch of http://astra2g.imgondemand.com/ 2G will begin approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.