The Hylas-1 mission, a public-private partnership between ESA and Avanti Communications in the UK, will target the high demand for broadband services in Europe. The Agency's advanced communications payload will deliver broadband services to hundreds of thousands of European customers on a flexible basis, shifting bandwidth between regions in line with demand.

EADS Astrium is the mission prime contractor, with the satellite platform coming from Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Satellite assembly and qualification testing were performed in Bangalore, India.

Other European and Canadian companies including TESAT, ComDev, and Casa Espacio provided essential equipment for the communication payload.

The satellite's readiness to begin its scheduled launch campaign was assessed in Bangalore on 18 September. Senior officials from Avanti, ESA, Astrium and ISRO/Antrix studied the results of Hylas-1's tests before giving the green light.

"There is a great sense of fulfilment today," said Andrea Cotellessa, ESA's project manager. "We have completed the work in less than four and a half years from contract signature. Considering the advanced payload we have aboard Hylas-1 and the performances measured so far, everybody involved in this project should feel very proud."

A Russian Antonov-124 aircraft will carry Hylas from Bangalore to Kourou in early October, along with all the support equipment.

Launch is planned for November on Europe's Ariane 5 ECA, shared with another telecommunication satellite.

The Hylas 1 ESA programme is an example of a successful public-private partnership; a creative fast track for demonstrating satellite technology as part of an operational mission.

Hylas will be followed in the next two to three years by two further satellites developed in partnership programmes with satcom operators: Alphasat, developed with Inmarsat with Astrium as prime contractor, and HAG-1, developed with Hispasat with OHB as prime contractor.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
ESA
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Hylas Gets Green Light For Spaceport Trip Poll: Children embracing e-books Northrop Grumman Space Cryocoolers Achieve 100 Years Of On-Orbit Performance NASA's NPP Climate Satellite Passes Pre-Environmental Review MEADS Demonstrates Interoperability With NATO Military Terrestrial Satcom Market To Grow Slightly Space security surveillance gets new boost Raytheon GBS Delivers Full-Motion Video To Improve Intelligence Imagery For Warfighters Vandenberg launches Minotaur IV LockMart And ATK Athena Launch Vehicles Selected As A NASA Launch Services Provider Sirius XM-5 Satellite Delivered To Baikonur For October Launch Emerging Technologies May Fuel Revolutionary Launcher Japan's first GPS satellite in operational orbit Geotagged Photos Help Prioritize Oil Spill Response In Gulf Rush Trucking Selects SkyBitz To Increase Security And Asset Efficiency E-Shirt Improves Physical Exercise BAE pushes Hawk jet trainers for Iraq Human-Powered Ornithopter Becomes First Ever To Achieve Sustained Flight Swiss solar plane completes flight across Switzerland Britain fixes Eurofighter ejector seats after Spain crash Optical Chip Enables New Approach To Quantum Computing Spin Soliton Could Be A Hit In Cell Phone Communication Chip revenue expected to grow 31.5 percent in 2010: Gartner Computer data stored with 'spintronics' U.K. company plans survey satellite fleet NASA Awards Contract For JPSS-1 Spacecraft NASA's MODIS And AIRS Instruments Watch Igor Changing Shape And Warming Over 3 Days A Growing La Nina Chills Out The Pacific Bottle tops and old shirts send green message to fashion UK's Shipping Emissions Six Times Higher Than Expected Fifty percent of oil spill remains in Gulf, commission hears New Map Offers A Global View Of Health-Sapping Air Pollution