SES Astra awarded the manufacturing contract for the Astra 1M television broadcasting satellite to EADS Astrium, SES Astra announced July 21.

EADS Astrium will supply the payload and the platform, basing the satellite on the Eurostar E3000 platform. Astra 1M will carry 36 transponders for its first five years of operation, before dropping to 32 for the remaining 10 years of its planned lifetime.

Astra 1M will replace Astra 2C at the 19.2 degreesEast orbital slot. Astra 2C is slated to be moved from its current position to 28.2 degreesEast to serve the high-definition television market in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The move is scheduled to take place following the launches of Astra 1KR and Astra 1L, which are scheduled to launch in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The new fleet configuration also will provide an additional 18 transponders for the African market, SES Astra said.

SES Astra has not selected a launch provider yet.