These are heady times for Greece and Cyprus. The former has been in the EU presidency spotlight, while Cyprus was signed up to the European Union in April. Then in May, the two states have joined another elite group of countries with the launch of Hellas Sat 2.

Dubbed the ‘most powerful satellite in Europe’ by the Nicosia-based Hellas Sat Consortium and propelling Greece and Cyprus into the space age (less than 20 countries have taken the step into orbit) this state-of-the-art craft will allow end-users to receive digital TV, telephone and data services from dishes as small as 60 centimeters.

Designed for a lifespan of 15 years, Hellas Sat’s broad footprint will relay transmissions for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and provide other services in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia – just reaching Australia’s west – via 30 transponders operating in the Ku band, leaving other frequencies open for future use and perhaps another satellite.

Hellas Sat 2 has two beams fixed over Europe and two more that are steerable from the company’s ground stations in Greece and Cyprus. “Due to the laws of physics,” as Hellas Sat’s sales and marketing manager Apostolos Triantafillou put it, the satellite’s footprint doesn’t cover North or South America, but programming can be relayed, and it of course will be in the case of the 2004 Olympic Games.

Launching of a vision
The French-built Astrium Eurostar E2000+ model was launched into Greece’s International Telecommunication Union – designated longitude slot at 39 degrees East – from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6.10pm on Tuesday, May 13 amid much hoopla. It took only half-an-hour for the 3,250-kilo payload to reach its geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) 35,887 kilometers over the equator following a perfectly routine mission.

It was the second launch for Lockheed Martin Space System’s next-generation “dial-a-rocket” Atlas 5 (401) series, that traces its evolution back to intercontinental ballistic missiles and which carried the commercial telecommunications craft, as lift-off was delayed due to a technical problem.

Specifically, the long-used Centaur upper stage of the expendable launch vehicle had “an issue with some welds on the aft bulkhead” according to International Launch Services (ILS), the mission provider. That set the date back two months, and another last-minute delay may have caused further anxiety for the first-time customers.

Hellas Sat, however, kept their cool. “It is to the credit of ILS that they found it and in retrospect the delay didn’t cost us anything,” said Triantafillou. “On the contrary, the delay saved us from a failure at launch, and because we’re a new satellite company, it would be disastrous should a failure have happened,” he said.

ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin together with two Russian companies, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia, which has constructed the Atlas’ RD-180 engine.

The satellite people Hellas Sat 2 is the “first” telecommunications satellite for Greece as well as Cyprus. Hellas Sat 1 was leased from Deutsche Telekom and the spacecraft, already in orbit, was moved into the 39-degree slot in 2002 to fulfill ITU rules and essentially hold the spot until Hellas Sat 2 was launched.

Hellas Sat Consortium Ltd – which includes a wholly-owned, Athens-based subsidiary, Hellas Sat SA – is comprised of five shareholders but expects the Electricity Authority of Cyprus http://www.eac.com.cy/ to take a 26-percent stake in the 170-million-euro project pending parliamentary approval by the end of 2003.

The current shareholders are Greece’s OTE Hellenic Telecommunications Organization with an 83.33% stake and where Hellas Sat’s Athens offices are located, Cyprus’ AvacomNet (8.51%), Hellenic Aerospace Industry (3.92%), Cyprus Development Bank (3.84%), and Canada’s Telesat with 0.39 percent.

The Canadian company’s minority shareholding reflects its mainly consultancy role. “The license to the Hellas Sat team was given by the Greek state almost two years ago, and one of the requirements was the participation of an established satellite operator,” Triantafillou said. “Telesat has a long history and they are an excellent consultant.”

The fledgling operator, however, has to contend with around 30 satellites already in orbit over Europe, Triantafillou admitted. “Currently, Hellas Sat has the largest and most powerful footprint in Europe, but Hellas Sat is a new satellite, so she has to cross the barrier of not being first.” The consortium is therefore banking on the bird’s high power and strategic market placement in order to make the difference and attract customers, a thing it has just started doing amid service providers, direct-to-home companies, etc.

In the meantime, Hellas Sat’s main backer has a major presence in the wider Balkans and Mediterranean regions. “ OTE, our largest shareholder, has a solid base in the Balkans,” Triantafillou said, as it is the main telecoms and mobile telephony operator in those countries. “So there are other reasons helping Hellas Sat get a portion of the pie than launching the satellite only!”

With Greece and Cyprus also claiming a slice of the orbit, the countries’ presence in the last frontier can only enhance their standing in the satellite community.