Inmarsat’s second Global Xpress Satellite Successfully Launched
Baikonour, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2015 – Inmarsat (LSE:ISAT.L), announces the successful launch of its second Global Xpress (GX) satellite (Inmarsat-5 F2) on board an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, February 1st at 12:31 GMT.
The satellite was correctly acquired by the Inmarsat (Paumalu) ground station at ~18:10 GMT (1 February) and the Inmarsat-5 launch provider, ILS, confirmed a successful spacecraft separation at 04:02hrs GMT (2 February).
Over the coming weeks, the Inmarsat operations team will command the satellite to perform a series of manoeuvres to raise Inmarsat-5 F2 to a geo-synchronous elliptical orbit, while towards the end of the month, 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 March, ready for the start of payload testing at the beginning of April.
Built by Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc.to a proven design (702HP), Inmarsat-5 F2 is part of a US$1.6 billion investment by Inmarsat into the next generation of global mobile broadband communications. The Inmarsat-5 satellite series will enable services that include worldwide mobile broadband communications for ships; in-flight connectivity for airline passengers and high-resolution video, voice and data streaming.
A third Inmarsat-5 satellite is scheduled for launch in the first half of this year, completing the Global Xpress constellation. A fourth Inmarsat-5 satellite, scheduled for delivery in 2016, is in production in El Segundo, Calif.
Inmarsat also has contracted Boeing Commercial Satellite Services to provide L- and Ka-band payload capacity and managed services to potential government customers.
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