Inmarsat to provide high-speed broadband in the Arctic

Inmarsat has announced that it will introduce two new Global Xpress (GX) satellite payloads dedicated to the Arctic region in partnership with Space Norway and its subsidiary Space Norway HEOSAT.

The company says the GX Arctic payloads are designed to address the needs of merchant fleets, fishing vessels, commercial airlines and the energy market.

In addition, the payloads will provide communications for tactical and strategic government users operating in the Arctic region, including customers in the USA, Canada and Scandinavia.

These payloads will also provide “KA Gov steerable capacity through service beams and high-capacity steerable beams, complementing military satellite resources, cost effectively, for optimal redundancy, protection, scalability and global portability”, the company said.

The GX Arctic payloads (GX10A & 10B) will improve network performance in very high latitudes by flying directly overhead, providing GX antennas with much higher elevation angles to optimise throughput.

The announcement comes less than a month after Inmarsat’s decision to invest in three new GX satellites (GX7, 8 and 9) to be built by Airbus Defence & Space.

Image courtesy Inmarsat.

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