Oxygen for space!

Oxygen's team produced a feelgood video shown at the launch celebrations for an important new satellite – Hylas – and beamed around the world. Launched from Kourou, in French Guiana, Hylas is now in orbit 36,000 kilometres above the equator.

Hylas will give many rural areas in the UK and Europe access to fast, broadband internet access for the first time. Developed for Avanti in London, the satellite was assembled in the UK by Europe’s largest space company, Astrium (which has hi-tech facilities in both Stevenage and Portsmouth) and in India by ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organisation).

Areas where good internet access is not possible are called ‘notspots’ and the UK government has contributed £40 million to the Hylas development programme as part of its commitment to ensuring everyone, regardless of where they are in the country, will have a decent connection by 2015.

Oxygen’s video features Astrium Project Manager, James Hinds, explaining his own fascination with space from a very early age and his pride in the unique features of this satellite – named Hylas because it is a Highly Adaptable Spacecraft, whose operation can be ‘tuned’ from Earth.  He uses non-technical language accessible to everyone – especially young, potential space engineers of the future!
 
The team at Oxygen has worked on Astrium projects for many years – creating videos and technical animations for satellite launches, presentations to government ministers, promotional campaigns and a project for the European Space Agency (ESA) explaining the invaluable contribution the space industry makes to disaster relief.