Astra 2B

The satellite provides two broadcast beams, each with horizontal and vertical polarisation, across two footprints - 2B North (covering Central Europe and Scandinavia) and 2B South (covering Central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands).^[2]

While at 28.2° East, television signals could be received with a 43 cm dish across the majority of the British Isles with a 60 cm dish required in the extreme north and west, although the official footprint maps now show a 60 cm dish as required across all of Western Europe.^[3] At 28.2° East, 17 transponders on Astra 2B were used by BSkyB to provide the Sky Digital television services of standard and high-definition television (HDTV) and digital radio.^[4] Astra 2B could also provide backup capacity, substituting for one or more transponders across the whole 10.70-12.75 GHz range used by Astra satellites in the Astra 19.2°E and Astra 28.2°E orbital positions. A third, steerable beam provides 8 transponders in the 12.50-12.75 GHz range for Internet and telecommunications services in West Africa. This aspect of the satellite was originally the commercial responsibility of SES New Skies (now incorporated into SES).^{[citation needed]}

Following the launch of Astra 2F to 28.2° East, in February 2013, Astra 2B started its planned move from that position to Astra 19.2°E, to serve alongside Astra 1KR, Astra 1L, Astra 1M, and Astra 2C,^[5] arriving in position by 27 February 2013.^[6] In January 2014, Astra 2B moved to the Astra 31.5°E orbital position, pending the delayed launch of Astra 5B to that position and stayed there as back-up^[7] until it was moved back to 19.2° East in December 2016.^[8] In June 2017, it was moved west at approximately 0.6°/day to arrive alongside NSS-7 at 20° West in August 2017.^[9] From April 2018 to July 2018, Astra 2B was moved east at 0.6°/day to Astra 19.2°E.^[10] Since June 2021, Astra 2B has been non-operational and moving west at approximately 4.9°/day.^[11]