SpaceX Lost Falcon 9 Customer

Avanti Communications Group announced that they withdrew their HylasOne satellite from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It was slated to be launched in 2009 onboard the first commercial Falcon 9 launch.

Avanti switched to Arianespace as launch customer, either flying on a Soyuz launcher or as secondary payload onboard an Ariane 5. In order to finance the increased costs of the launch vehicle, Avanti placed additional shares and secured £31.5 million ($51 million).

Avanti got another £10.7 million ($17.3 million) from the European Space Agency ESA as part of development support for the Hylas satellite. This enabled Avanti to book a launch with Arianespace in Q2 2010, the earliest free launch slot of Arianespace.

HylasOne is a Ka- and Ku-Band satellite delivering high quality television and high-speed communications services for Europe. It is based on the Indian ISRO I-2K platform, developed by ISRO and EADS Astrium. It will have a mass of 2,300 kilograms and is designed for 15 years of operations.