Astra 1B & Meteosat 5 Mission

Launch Service Provider

Arianespace

Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites). It was believed to have been launched in a faulty condition, and suffered a thruster failure early in its life, causing minor drift, meaning that it became permanently difficult to obtain a steady lock on the satellite. This was most notable on analogue transmissions where the picture would move from clear to carrying sparklies and back again.