First Inmarsat GX satellite set for launch before year end
Inmarsat's I-5 F1 satellite, the first to deliver the company's ultra-fast Global Xpress (GX) Ka-band service, is on track to be launched before the end of the year.
The giant seven-metre tall, six-tonne satellite, which will serve the EMEA region, is currently undergoing RF (radio frequency) testing and will leave Boeing's El Segundo, Los Angeles, facility in early November.
Once all tests are complete it will be flown from Los Angeles (LAX) airport to the launch site at Baikonur in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Antonov cargo aircraft.
The I-5 is due to be launched aboard a Proton launcher. A similar launch in July ended in failure after the Proton's angular velocity sensors were installed upside down, an error that is unlikely to be repeated.
Miranda Mills, President Aviation at Inmarsat, said: "Inmarsat’s GX will be the world's first global super-fast broadband service and it is going to revolutionise mobile connectivity on land, at sea and in the air.
'We have invested $1.2bn in GX and the first of our three spacecraft – Inmarsat I-5 F1 will serve the Indian Ocean, Europe and Middle East. This launch will be followed by a further others in 2014, with I-5 F2 serving the Americas and I-5 F3 the Asia Pacific region."
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