Hylas 1 Dedicated Internet Satellite to Launch

The first satellite purely dedicated to handling internet traffic is set to be launched. Known as the Hylas-1, this satellite once setup correctly will hopefully fill many "not spots" or dead zones in Eastern European broadband.

The propulsion rocket utilised to get this thing in the air is the rather large Ariane 5 rocket and will launch today from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 1539 local time (1839 GMT)."It is a fairly small spacecraft but rather capable," said Esa project manager Andrea Cotellessa."The payload has flexibility to reallocate bandwidth and power in each of the eight spot beams that cover key market areas selected by Avanti."Normally, satellites have this frequency plan fixed at the design stage and it can't be changed in orbit."On Hylas, this can be done at any moment in time from the control centre. This agility is important because it will allow Avanti to keep up with market evolution."

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