Both satellite passengers for Arianespace's upcoming heavy-lift Ariane 5 mission are being readied for the August 2 mission from French Guiana, undergoing key steps of their final preparations in the Spaceport's S5 payload processing facility. The HYLAS 2 relay platform has received its propellant load in the facility's S5B dual-function hall, which is capable of handling both satellite integration and fueling.

Separately, Intelsat 20 has been mounted on the cone-shaped adapter that will serve as its interface with Ariane 5, marking the first contact with launcher hardware during activity in the S5A integration hall.

Arianespace's upcoming mission - designated Flight VA208 in the launcher's numbering system to signify the 208th mission of an Ariane family vehicle - will be the fourth for the heavy-lift Ariane 5 in 2012.

Its HYLAS 2 payload was produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation for Avanti Communications, and has been conceived to deliver high-speed, low-cost two-way data communications with the latest Ka-band technology.

The satellite's 24 fixed beams and one steerable beam will provide data capacity to telecommunications, enterprise and government customers in the fast-growing markets of Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East and across the Caucasus.

The Intelsat 20 passenger for Ariane 5's next flight was built by Space Systems/Loral for Intelsat, and its C- and Ku-band payload is optimized for high-power distribution of video, voice and data network services.

This spacecraft will replace the Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 10 satellites, which are co-located at 68.5 degrees East longitude.