Avanti UK Given Green Light to Launch HYLAS2 Broadband Satellite

Avanti Communications UK has just been given the green light to launch its second broadband satellite (HYLAS 2) into space, which will be sent aloft within the next couple of days aboard Arianespace’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

The “Highly Adaptable” (aka – HYLAS) satellite is primarily intended to expand the operators coverage into the Middle East and Africa, although it should also boost Europe’s existing rural broadband availability (download speeds of up to 10Mbps+) and add some much needed redundancy into Avanti’s network.

Yesterdays successful launch readiness review means that the Ariane 5 rocket will today be rolled out from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch zone. The launch itself is then expected to take place at between 8:54pm and 9:51pm (GMT) tomorrow (2nd August 2012), when it will be accompanied into orbit by the Intelsat 20 spacecraft (dual payload).

It’s important to stress that any mission of this nature can carry some risk of loss, as a result we’ll have more coverage of HYLAS 2 after we know that it’s made the trip safely into orbit. A live video stream of the event will be broadcast tomorrow night (see below).

LIVE Video Feed – Arianespace’s Ariane 5 Launch (HYLAS 2 and Intelsat 20)
http://www.arianespace.tv