Thanks to continuous improvements in telecommunications technology, satellites are an efficient method of getting Europe online. Geography presents no obstacle: from city suburbs to rural villages, remote islands to high mountains, anyone within the satellite ‘footprint’ can obtain a broadband link.
ESA has devoted years to developing satellite broadband technologies through its ARTES Advanced Research in Telecommunication Systems initiative. Now several of these innovations are being put to work aboard Hylas-1. The mission’s flexible payload technology can vary its data throughput across the European regions it serves, keeping pace with market demand.