HYLAS (or HYLAS-1) is a British

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

in geostationary orbit. HYLAS, which is an acronym for ''Highly Adaptable Satellite'', is a

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

and was launched by the European Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guyana Space Centre at Kourou in

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. It is located at the orbital location of 33.5 degrees west and will provide new and innovative services including High Definition Television (HDTV) and interactive satellite delivered broadband services. The satellite will help address the issue of poor broadband coverage in many parts of Europe which have less developed ground infrastructure.

Construction

HYLAS was constructed by EADS Astrium for the UK telecommunications company Avanti Communications Plc. Development of the satellite was supported by a £23m investment from the British National Space Centre ( BNSC).

Launch

Avanti purchased for HYLAS a launch to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

launch vehicle. The purchase, in September 2007, made Avanti the first customer to purchase a commercial geostationary launch from

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

. In July 2009

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

announced that HYLAS would instead be launched in 2010, "using an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher" from Arianespace. Avanti had previously criticized Arianespace as being overly expensive, but a move to Arianespace was motivated by prospective customers' concerns about launch risks associated with Falcon 9. Also, additional financial assets became available, including 10.7 million pounds from British contributions ESA's Artes telecommunications development program. HYLAS successfully launched at 18:41 GMT on the 26 November 2010 by Ariane 5.

Mission

HYLAS is based on the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

's I-2K small satellite platform under a cooperative arrangement between EADS Astrium and

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister o ...

/ Antrix. The HYLAS payload carries two K_u band transponders, intended mainly for

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

, and six K_a band transponders feeding up to eight Spotbeams, allowing the provision of between 150,000 and 300,000 simultaneous broadband Internet connections. The HYLAS satellite had a launch mass of around 2100 kg and a beginning-of-life power of 3.5 kW.http://www.esa.int/esaTE/SEMAB09ATME_index_0.html ESA News

Orbital position

The orbital position of HYLAS was adjusted to 18.3° West Longitude during June 2019.

References

External links