HYLAS-4

HYLAS-4 is a telecommunications satellite owned and operated by Avanti Communications and manufactured by Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) that was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket on 5 April 2018.^[2]

HYLAS-4

Operator	Avanti Communications[1]
COSPAR ID	2018-033B
SATCAT no.	43272
Mission duration	15 years[1]
Spacecraft properties
Bus	Star-3 Bus
Manufacturer	Orbital ATK[2]
Launch mass	4,000 kg
Start of mission
Launch date	5 April 2018, 21:34 UTC[2]
Rocket	Ariane 5 flight VA242[2]
Launch site	ELA-3, Guiana Space Centre[2]
Contractor	Arianespace[1]
Orbital parameters
Eccentricity	circular[3]
Periapsis altitude	35,786 km[3]
Apoapsis altitude	35,786 km[3]
Period	23h 56min[4]
Transponders
Band	Ka-band[1]
Capacity	up to 28 GHz[1]

Mission

The satellite is built to provide high speed data transmission services to Africa, Latin America and Europe.^[5] It is based on Orbital ATK's Star-3 Bus, delivering 64 28 GHz fixed beams covering Africa and parts of Europe. There are also four independent steerable beams that can serve Africa, South America and Europe.^[6] The capacity will partially be used to allow Avanti to expand into new markets and provide growth for existing markets.^[1]

Launch

The satellite was launched into geosynchronous orbit by Arianespace on an Ariane 5 rocket in its ECA variant from ELA-3 at Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The launch was originally planned in early 2017 but has been delayed to 21 March 2018, and then to 5 April 2018.^[1][2] The satellite reached its geostationary orbital position by 19 April 2018.^[7]