14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the European Space Agency announce that the Hylas-1 telecommunications satellite has finally made its way to the spaceport ESA operates in the French Guyana, in South America.
The Kourou Spaceport was built here because, as a rule, space agencies prefer to launch their rockets from locations as far south as possible, preferably in the Southern Hemisphere.
The arrival of the new satellite marks an important milestone in the mission. The next time Hylas-1 travels will in space, aboard an Ariane 5 delivery system provided by Arianespace.
The spacecraft will be injected into an operational geostationary orbit at an altitude of about 36,000 kilometers above the surface of the planet.
Hylas-1 stands for Highly Adaptable Satellite, ESA says. It main mission will be to provide customers with innovative services including High Definition Television (HDTV) and interactive satellite-delivered broadband programs.
At this point, the launch date for the spacecraft has been set on November 15. It made its way to the French Guyana aboard a massive Antonov An-124 cargo jetliner, and it arrived in the evening of Monday, October 11.
After being unloaded from the airplane, the boxed satellite was transported by road to the S1B satellite preparation facility, which is a clean room at ESA spaceport.
At the moment, Hylas-1 is undergoing a series of final checks, which are aimed at determining if it is in the appropriate condition to fly.
After tests are done, the spacecraft will finally receive its fuel, after which it will be placed inside its payload fairing and sealed within. The fairing protects Ariane payloads against harm during take-off.
“While its payload has been developed in Europe, Hylas-1’s flight-proven I-2K satellite platform was procured by prime contractor EADS Astrium from Antrix Corporation in India, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),” ESA says in a statement,
“This is the first spacecraft to have been developed through a public-private partnership between ESA and a commercial satellite operator. Avanti Communications of London will own and operate the satellite from its geostationary orbital location of 33.5° West,” the document adds.