[Satellite TODAY 11-23-10] International Launch Services (ILS) scheduled the launch of Eutelsat’s Ka-Sat satellite for Dec. 20 after the spacecraft arrived at the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this weekend, the operator announced Nov. 22.
    ILS said the satellite is now in the final stages of readiness for launch by a Proton rocket. Ka-Sat, built by Astrium, aims to be the cornerstone of Eutelsat’s new European infrastructure, which includes eight main gateways and two back-up gateways located across Europe and connected to the Internet by a fiber backbone ring. The High-Throughput satellite has a total capacity of more than 70 Gbps to provide services from direct Internet access to enterprise networks and local broadcasting.
    By launching Ka-Sat, Eutelsat hopes to recover from the loss of its W3B satellite, which occurred in October after a satellite propulsion anomaly.
    “KA-SAT’s multi-spotbeam design, use of Ka-band frequencies and proven systems deployed in North America by our technology partner, ViaSat, will transform the volume of bandwidth available through a single satellite and the scope and economics for new services. With this pan-European infrastructure complementing our Ku-band resources that will be progressively expanded and modernized with six new satellites, Eutelsat is uniquely positioned to further push back the boundaries of satellite-delivered services across the markets we serve,” Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen said in a statement.