Final payload integration is underway for Arianespace's fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2009, with the Amazonas 2 telecommunications satellite now encapsulated in its payload fairing.

This activity took place inside the satellite staging area of Ariane 5's Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport in French Guiana, where the ogive-shaped fairing was lowered into place over Amazonas 2. The fairing will protect the satellite during Ariane 5's climb-out through the atmosphere's dense layers.

HISPASAT's Amazonas 2 will ride as the upper payload on Ariane 5's next flight - scheduled later this month - while the German COMSATBw-1 military communications satellite is to be positioned below it as the lower satellite passenger in the payload "stack."

With a liftoff mass of approximately 5,500 kg., Amazonas 2 is to operate from a final orbital slot of 61 deg. West. This satellite will provide the Spanish-based HISPASAT telecommunications operator with relay capacity over the Americas, with its coverage area extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

It is based on EADS Astrium's Eurostar E3000 spacecraft bus, and has been designed for a useful lifetime of 15 years. Amazonas 2 is to handle a wide range of communications services - including direct-to-home television - through its 54 Ku-band transponders and 10 C-band transponders.