Global mobile broadband satellite launched

Inmarsat’s first Global Xpress satellite (Inmarsat-5 F1) was launched aboard a Proton Breeze M rocket launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, 8 December.

Over the coming two weeks, Inmarsat controllers will command the satellite to perform seven rocket burns to raise it to a geosynchronous elliptical orbit, while just after Christmas, the satellite will have completed deployment of its solar arrays and reflectors. This will be followed by the electrical orbit-raising phase, taking the spacecraft to its final geostationary orbit. This is scheduled to be completed by the end of January, ready for the start of payload testing at the beginning of February.

Built by Boeing Satellite Systems, Inmarsat-5 F1 is part of a US$1.6 billion investment by Inmarsat into the next generation of global mobile broadband communications. This investment includes a fourth Inmarsat-5 satellite ordered from Boeing in October 2013.

Inmarsat is the owner and commercial operator of the Global Xpress constellation. By the close of 2014, the fleet will comprise three high-throughput satellites offering a combination of global Ka-band coverage from a single operator, performance of up to 50 Mbps to mobile or fixed terminals, and network reliability.

Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat, said: “The successful launch of this first Inmarsat-5 satellite is a major landmark on our journey to deliver the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service. We are on schedule to achieve full global coverage by the end of 2014.”

Inmarsat-5 F1 is built to Boeing’s flight-proven 702HP platform. Weighing over 6 tonnes at lift-off, the satellite has 89 Ka-band beams. The spacecraft’s two solar wings employ five panels of ultra-triple-junction solar cells to generate approximately 15 kilowatts.