NBS 'Hylas' Sattelite switches to Ariane Rocket

trekkypj

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8164236.stm

Broadband satellite jumps rocket
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News



The UK Hylas spacecraft, which aims to help bridge the "digital divide" by supplying space-borne broadband net access, is switching rockets.

Its owner, Avanti Communications, signed a contract on Wednesday with Arianespace to use one of its launchers - either an Ariane 5 or a Soyuz.

Hylas will provide 2Mbs net connections to rural and other areas where terrestrial broadband is unobtainable.

The satellite was due to be launched on a novel US rocket known as a Falcon 9.

However, the Falcon's launch schedule has been slipping as it prepares for the maiden and qualification flights it was supposed to make before carrying Hylas into orbit.

'Scrappy start-up'

Avanti's chief executive, David Williams, said his broadband company had now raised the extra money needed to buy the certainty afforded by Arianespace's tried and tested - albeit more expensive - vehicles.

"We're a classic example of a scrappy British start-up company," he told BBC News.

"A couple of years ago we had very little money. It's turned out that our market was very much bigger than many of us thought and I now have a blue-chip shareholder base that is prepared to pay for the certainty and reliability of the world's best launch vehicle."

Hylas (Highly Adaptable Satellite) is a commercialised venture that emerged from a space technology programme within the European Space Agency and carries significant investment from the British government.

Its payload will automatically vary the amounts of power and bandwidth needed to match the peaks and troughs in demand for net access across its European "footprint".


This is a success for Europe because it is a European [rocket] which is going to launch one of the most innovative European telecommunications projects
Jean-Yves Le Gall
chairman, CEO, Arianespace

The satellite is currently under construction and should be ready for launch next year.

The preparation is being shared by the UK division of EADS Astrium, Europe's largest space company, and Antrix, a commercial arm of the Indian space agency (ISRO).

The 2.7-tonne satellite will operate in the Ka radio band and deliver broadband services to some 350,000 subscribers.

Bigger platform

A second satellite, Hylas-2, is already being planned even though the first has yet to fly. This spacecraft, for which Avanti hopes to secure the funding by the end of the year, should be able to support up to 1,000,000 customers.

And another, even bigger platform could then follow Hylas-2. Dubbed Hercules, this satellite would be capable of delivering 10Mbs (megabits per second) connections to up two million subscribers, and also some 50Mbs connections to a smaller group of people.

Hylas-1 will go into space using an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.

Jean-Yves Le Gall is the chairman and CEO of Arianespace, the company that operates Europe's launch services.

He said: "This is a success for Europe because it is a European [rocket] which is going to launch one of the most innovative European telecommunications projects."

The recent Digital Britain report reaffirmed the government's Universal Service Commitment to ensure that every home in the UK can get 2Mbps broadband by 2012.

A range of technologies, such as DSL, wireless, and fibre, will be required to do this. The report said satellites had a role to play in delivering broadband to rural and remote areas.

Avanti faces competition from the long established Eutelsat space communications company, which is planning its own digital-divide-busting Ka-band satellite for Europe, delivering 10Mbs through its Tooway service. Eutelsat says its KA-SAT is also due for launch in 2010.

Interesting development. Perhaps the satellite might even launch in time for the NBS.

watty

No, it was supposed to be operational since June 2009 on NBS.

Nor is Hylass more innovative than Eutelsat's kasat @13E due to launch next year, Hylass-1 is more experimental though and Hylass still behind on build & test.

'Scrappy start-up'
Avanti's chief executive, David Williams, said his broadband company had now raised the extra money needed to buy the certainty afforded by Arianespace's tried and tested - albeit more expensive - vehicles.

"We're a classic example of a scrappy British start-up company," he told BBC News.

Good to hear it is being launched on an established rocket. But who is footing the rather larger bill?


Launches often have to be booked a year or so in advance (there is a queue). So it looks likely the superior, higher capacity Eutelsat service (from large established providers) will be available in Ireland (I think three dedicated spot beams for Ireland) from Digiweb before the NBS sat service exists.

country_guy

Watty, you seem to be a great promoter of Digiweb's services as you constantly are only referring to them as being TOOWAY suppliers in Ireland...shouldn't you also, for balance, include all suppliers of the TOOWAY service ? and there will be 2 beams over Ireland for KA-SAT when it is launched in the 2nd half of 2010...which are approx. 256km in dia. ty

watty

Who are the others in Ireland that are actually ISPs not just resellers with a nationwide Install and Data center hosting, with also a track record installing professional systems? I'm sure I have only occasionally mentioned Digweb as a Tooway supplier. I've mentioned 3 Ireland as Mobile Supplier far, far more often.

Personally I would not promote satellite services at all, except they are often better than 3G/HSPA Mobile. People should exhaust all other possibilities including private wireless / microwave or other link to someone else with Broadband. I've compared four different satellite services, many different Mobile services, DSL, ISDN, fibre, cable Broadband, Nomadic Wireless (ripwave and WiMAx) and three different Fixed Wireless services. Personally. I've lost count of presentations by vendors of different systems.

Which other Satellite provider changes customers to fixed Wireless Broadband or DSL as soon as it is available?

Which other Tooway supplier supplies non-satellite fixed services?

@Country_guy: Which provider do you work for? I have no connection with any provider. Sometimes I recommend UPC or other suppliers depending on the situation and needs of the person looking for BB.

If you have objections to a post please click the icon beside it.

I've never suggested that Digiweb are the only Satellite supplier.

Sponge Bob

Are Eutelsat going into 13e or 16e with their ka multispot sat next year ??

watty

13E.

Which is half decent elevation here. Sky is actually on a pinched Central European slot (28E goes through Prague?)

Ireland is North of Satellites between 5W and 10W roughly for highest elevation.

Sponge Bob

Great News. The Hylas Satellite that Three pimped to Eamon Ryan for the NBS in 2008 is now finally ready to be put into space.

http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/press_centre/hylas-1-successfully-completes-thermal-vacuum-testing.html

It now needs to be brought to the launch site in Kourou. There is a slight snag though. The launch vehicle is Soyuz not Ariane and the Soyuz complex in Kourou may not be ready in 2010 and then only in December. Ariane have said that they may slap it on an Ariane 5 and launch it anyway....but either way not until the NBS rollout is complete in September.

The "Soyuz Inside" ship offloaded a few launchers in kourou and the Soyuz team in Kourou are claiming they will launch Hylas just before christmas



http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100514/159015469.html

"The current official date is December 17," Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov said on Russian television following his recent visit to the Kourou space center.
Parts of two Soyuz-ST rockets, modernized versions of the Soyuz-2 rocket developed specifically for launches from the Kourou space center, were delivered to French Guiana last year.

The insurers behind Hylas may baulk at being the first launch of what is a technically modified Soyuz VARIANT and may insist on an Ariane launch instead, watch this space.

watty

Still a lot lower risk than Falcon-9 even though it has just had its first test flight.

Avanti have sold a lot of capacity on Hylas, and it only has 1/10th of the capacity of Eutelsat's Kasat (launching Sept? Q3 2010 they say), so I wonder how much space is left for Ireland on Hylas anyway.

Isn't it amazing that Europe now has a more advanced space port & Space Truck than USA and renting space to the Russians for launches? We also have done some very advanced satellites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_projects_of_the_European_Space_Agency
Goce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOCE

ESA Control Centre, Darmstadt, Germany

Sponge Bob

If Ka Sat fails to make its orbital slot then Three will crap themselves,

Hylas only has 8 spots and Ka has 80 or something . Hylas also comes with an unknown level of lifetime power degredation where Ka should maintain at least 40 spots even at end of life.

But these are all in the category of known unknowns once the bloody thing is up. How did Ryan choose a bird than never flew on a launch platform that never flew to deliver 8% of the NBS connections