Inmarsat to launch third Global Xpress satellite Aug. 28

Global mobile satellite communications services provider Inmarsat confirmed the third satellite in its Global Xpress program—Inmarsat-5 F3—will launch Aug. 28. It is scheduled to be deployed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:44 p.m. (BST).

The third Global Xpress satellite to be launched, I-5 F3, will cover the Pacific Ocean region and will, together withInmarsat-5 F1 (I-5 F1) and Inmarsat-5 F2 (I-5 F2), create the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider. 

Inmarsat’s fifth generation satellites have all been built by Boeing Satellite Systems in California. The launch is being undertaken for Inmarsat by International Launch Services (ILS) using a Proton launch vehicle.

According to Inmarsat, Global Xpress will deliver broadband speeds “around 100 times faster than the company’s fourth generation (I-4) constellation. It will offer new opportunities for customers, in both the public and private sectors, to significantly enhance their connectivity and to access bandwidth-hungry applications, even in the remotest and most inaccessible regions of the world.”

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said: “The completion of the Global Xpress constellation will be a significant milestone for our organization and is fundamental to the delivery of a new era in mobile satellite communications, which will change the future for us all.”

The first Global Xpress satellite (I-5 F1) was launched in December 2013 and entered commercial service in July 2014, covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. This was followed by the launch of I-5 F2 on Feb. 1, 2015, which covers the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean; it will enter commercial service later in August.

Following the successful launch of I-5 F3, Inmarsat expects to commence global commercial GX services by the end of the year.