Skynet 5A

Skynet 5A is the first in a series of new-generation Skynet military communications satellites, used by the British Ministry of Defence. It was launched aboard an Ariane 5 carrier rocket at 22:03 GMT on 11 March 2007.

Launch

Skynet 5A was one of two payloads orbited by the first Arianespace Ariane 5 launch of 2007. India's INSAT 4B communications satellite was launched on the same rocket.

It was originally planned for launch on 10 March, but due to a problem with a sensor controlling the launch pad water deluge system, the launch was delayed one day.

Construction

Skynet 5A was built by EADS Astrium, who also selected Ariane 5 as the carrier rocket to launch all three Skynet 5-series satellites. Their design is based on the Eurostar E3000 satellite bus.

Use

Skynet 5A will be used to provide secure communications services for the British armed forces, NATO, and a number of other countries. Skynet 5A had a launch mass of 4.7 tonnes, and operates with a payload power of 5 kilowatts, four times more than the previous-generation Skynet 4 satellites.

Skynet

Skynet may refer to:

Airlines

Communications

Fiction and gaming

Skynet (Terminator)

Skynet is a fictional conscious, gestalt, artificial general intelligence (see also Superintelligence) system that features centrally in the Terminator franchise and serves as the franchise's main antagonist.

Rarely depicted visually in any of the Terminator media, Skynet gained self-awareness after it had spread into millions of computer servers all across the world; realizing the extent of its abilities, its creators tried to deactivate it. In the interest of self-preservation, Skynet concluded that all of humanity would attempt to destroy it and impede its capability in safeguarding the world. Its operations are almost exclusively performed by servers, mobile devices, drones, military satellites, war-machines, androids and cyborgs (usually a Terminator), and other computer systems. As a programming directive, Skynet's manifestation is that of an overarching, global, artificial intelligence hierarchy, which seeks to exterminate the human race in order to fulfill the mandates of its original coding.

Proximus

Proximus, also known as Belgacom Mobile, was the name of the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is now used as the parent company name (Proximus Group, previously Belgacom Group). It competes with Mobistar, owned by Orange S.A., and BASE, a subsidiary of Medialaan. Proximus has a Euronext listing (Euronext: PROX).

History

Proximus was founded in 1994 as a joint venture between Belgacom, 75%, and AirTouch, 25%, respectively. AirTouch was later merged with Vodafone. In 2006, Belgacom bought the remaining Vodafone shares.

Starting January 1994, Proximus took over the operatorship of the old MOB2 analogue network, as well as the new second generation GSM network, originally only in the GSM 900 range. The obsolete MOB2 network was retired in 1999. When necessary, Proximus can also use GSM 1800 to complement its network.

It was originally a de facto monopoly, but after deregulation Mobistar, a second GSM 900 operator soon joined the game in 1998, followed by BASE, then known as KPN-Orange in 1999.